


Discarded

by ancailleach



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:07:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27182227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancailleach/pseuds/ancailleach
Summary: It was the perfect plan. Murder her grandfather, maneuver the Fire Nation into a war with the Earth Kingdom, and get her father on the throne. It was a plan made by Azula, and Azula's plans never failed.Except this one did. Caught and forced to flee for her life, with everything she'd ever known and fought for now forfeit to her, Azula has to survive on her own and figure out what to do with her life. Fortunately for her, there's one stubborn airbender who can't seem to leave her alone.
Relationships: Aang & Bumi (Avatar), Aang/Azula (Avatar), Azula & Ozai (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 59





	1. Dishonor

**Author's Note:**

> Couple of notes about this AU-- Aang isn't the Avatar in this universe, the Air Nomad genocide is less of an 'all killed in a single night' and more of the 'actual genocide taking multiple years to destroy and erase their culture' kind, and the war here is more like World War One than anything else.

It was surprisingly easy to kill a man. Firelord Azulon, her namesake, a windy old bag of bones who refused to consider dad for his rightful promotion, had died quickly and easily as he went out into the night. She’d even used a knife, obscuring the fact that as talented a firebender as she had committed the crime. The old man’s blood had slowly painted his white sheets dark red, and his lungs had jerked out one final breath before he passed. His fingers jerked and writhed, scratching at his sheets.

_ Well now that’s done _ , Azula thought to herself,  _ and I’m glad it’s over. _ Father would ascend to the throne, Iroh would dodder away his final days mourning, and presumably Zuko would meet a fate similar to that of Lu Ten. All she needed to do was wait and watch.

She slipped back up onto the roof, being extraordinarily careful to dodge the night guards. Their number had increased since the terror attack that claimed Lu Ten’s life, but they were still no match for Azula’s skill. She slipped through a window back into her chambers, laid down on her bed, and pretended to sleep.

Hours passed before morning came. The sun rose, and with it the royal retinue of advisors, servants, concubine, and nobility that made up the court of the Fire Nation. Azula stretched, allowing a servant to change her into her outfit for the day, when a shriek pierced the air. Azula suppressed the urge to smile.

Guards rushed down the hallway, one of them pausing to check in and make sure she was safe.

“What’s going on?” She asked, her voice a perfect rendition of concerned curiosity.

“Not sure yet. Just stay put, and stay safe.” The guard told her, and then made his way out of her chambers as quick as he came. Azula yawned, sitting back down in her bed.

“You can go now.” She told the servant, who was still lingering at the bedside table.

“But what about the screams?” The servant whispered, clutching her hands together.

“I fail to see what that has to do with you remaining in my room.” Azula pointed out. “There will probably be more guards in the servants quarters than here, anyway. Unless you want to add your scream to the morning chorus?”

Shivering, the peasant girl quickly retreated from Azula’s quarters. Once the door had been shut and Azula was certain of her solitude, she let out a laugh. It broke out from her, like a wheel falling off of a cart after crashing into a wall. She’d  _ done  _ it. Taken that ridiculous old man who wanted to stuff her into skirts and leave Lu Ten’s death unchallenged and removed life from him. Nobody was supposed to be higher up in the Fire Nation hierarchy than the Firelord, other than maybe Agni himself.

Did that mean she was as high as the gods, then? Azula pondered that for a moment, before discarding the idea. She had merely been a tool for the honor of the nation, ensuring that the humiliation from those Earth savages wouldn’t go by unpaid. It was going to be a war.

Zuko, his boots characteristically clumsy on the wooden floors, burst into her room suddenly. “Azula! Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Azula asked, barely resisting the urge to mock him in the moment. There would be time for that later, when the situation was less… delicate.

“The firelord… Azulon is dead. Murdered.” Zuko told her what she already knew. “Somebody slit his throat in the middle of the night.”

“Well, looks like dad will be on the throne sooner rather than later. It’s amazing the man wasn’t already dead from old age.” Azula replied calmly.

“You don’t care?” Zuko asked, indignant for a moment, before a shadow passed over his features and he answered his own question. “No, of course you don’t care. I’m talking to Azula.”

“Is there anything else going on that’s important?” Azula asked casually, fishing for details.

“I don’t know. It’s all kind of up in the air right now.” Zuko replied dumbly. The idiot had never been good at reading the room.

“I suppose I’ll figure out the situation later, then. Have a nice day, Zuzu.” She casually dismissed him. The only person who’s opinion she truly needed was Ozai’s, and she was certain he’d be sweeping into her room any second now to plan something. Zuko scowled, possibly the only thing he’d managed to perfect over the years, and left her room.

More time passed. By the time her dad had  _ finally  _ come to visit her, it was nearly noon.

“Azula.” He acknowledged her stiffly. “What were you doing last night?”

She almost blinked, but controlled the motion. “I was sleeping. No visits from any assassins.”

The glare from her dad-- from her  _ father _ \-- only sharpened. “Did you know a knife was reported missing from the armory the last few days ago? It would have required somebody from within the court to access it.”

Azula’s lips imperceptibly tremored, hiding the beginning of a frown. “You surely don’t think that someone here could be a traitor? All of our staff are loyal citizens of the Fire Nation.”

“Perhaps.” The man growled. “The old man wrote your name onto his sheets in his own blood.”

Azula froze for just a moment. Damn that bastard, ruining her plans from beyond the grave. “Perhaps he was spelling out his own preferred heir?”

“The guards seem rather convinced he was spelling out the name of his killer.” Ozai informed her bluntly. “I, for one, did not think I had raised such a failure as to succumb to the temptation of patricide and the sin of kinslaying.”

“Nor have you, father.” Azula agreed with him, kneeling down in supplication. “Someone from the Earth Kingdom must have infiltrated the staff. Administrator Ling’s hiring practices have been somewhat lax of late.”

“Azula. It isn’t befitting of your station to attempt to deceive your father.” Ozai rumbled, his glare narrowing down further. “You didn’t even think to get the old man to change his official line of succession. You think I didn’t have further plans for him!”

He was yelling now, clearly furious. “Now that oaf Iroh will take the throne, and my own children will be under suspicion of murder, making my attempts to reach it all the more difficult! What on Earth were you thinking? That you could just go out of your way to make your own schemes, breaking my trust, and that no one would be any the wiser?”

She allowed herself to actually blink this time. There would be no use denying anything directly at the moment. “Shouldn’t you be pleased that your primary obstacle to war has been removed from the equation? Your plans, even if a little damaged, are still far closer to completion than they were yesterday.”

“ _ A little damaged _ .” He spat. “If you had simply waited a little longer, he would have been taken care of properly. Now I’m forced to lose my most useful heir and rely on  _ the boy _ . For all your crimes, I ought to kill you where you stand.”

Azula processed that. She didn’t move, barely even breathed. If she was ordered to die for the good of her nation, she would do so without hesitation. Even if father was clearly delusional, acting like he hadn’t planned on killing Azulon the whole time. Seconds passed, filled with tense silence.

“... If you are going to kill me, please make it swift.” Azula offered, thinking perhaps he’d forgotten what it was he was supposed to be doing. Ozai remained silent for a moment.

“You’re lucky your mother is so weak. She requested that I let you live.” Ozai said plainly.

Azula’s eyebrows knitted closer.  _ Mother _ ? That couldn’t be right. Mother hated her. He must be obfuscating, in case someone was listening in. Making his treason somewhat more palatable.

“I may not have taught you well enough to follow orders, but I trust I taught you well enough to make it out of the castle without being caught.” Ozai stated, his arms now crossed.

“I understand, father.” Azula bowed. “I will disappear without a trace. It will be as if the name Azula never existed.”

For one barely perceptible second, Azula could swear she saw his eyes soften. “Goodbye, daughter. I sincerely hope I  _ never  _ see you again.”

He left out the obvious implication that if they did meet again, it would be at her execution. Azula straightened herself out of her bow, standing up. “I wish you good luck in leading our nation to glory in my absence.”

The scowl returned, and Ozai left the room, slamming her door shut. She could hear his muffled voice through the wood, telling the guards that Azula had disappeared from her room.

Azula slid underneath her bed, scooching up to the false wooden panel that led to the numerous secret passages criss crossing the estate. The tunnels were cool and dark, requiring the passenger using them to be a firebender or bring a torch if they wanted to see. She lit the halls with a blue flame, her mind racing with a dozen different thoughts.

She was being thrown away. She’d removed the most difficult obstacle in her father’s plans, and for that her reward was banishment and likely execution if she ever was found out. She had nowhere to go, her outfit screamed royalty, and she was stuck in the heart of the Fire Nation.  _ Zuko  _ was going to be the next firelord. In the span of a few minutes, she had gone from being the princess of an empire to having nothing.

It took all of her willpower not to scream through the black tunnels. If she was too loud, she’d be noticed. And if she was noticed, she’d be executed.  _ Focus _ , Azula, she chastised herself. She needed a route, a destination, a place to go where she wouldn’t be hauled into prison within five seconds of being seen.

The perfect location manifested within all of it’s awful irony. The Water Tribes were still diplomatically friendly with the Fire Nation, willing to toss away a kinslayer and assassin back home if it got them a larger slice of trade. The Air Temples were either already occupied by the Fire Nation or had nothing even resembling a standing army that could protect her. Azula’s sole remaining option was to flee into the Earth Kingdom, the country she had just guaranteed a war with.

She halted another bout of crazed laughter before it could get too out of hand. She needed a way to get to her location, a shipping boat or a ferry. The ports would most likely be under heavy watch for the next few days, trying to prevent her escape. She knew that the secret passages had a route leading down to a hidden bay, but given that there weren't exactly any ships in waiting for her it wouldn’t make too much of a difference.

She took the passage that led to the city. She’d find a cargo ship, or a fishing jetty, or  _ something  _ that she could stow onto. Once they were far out enough into the ocean, she could take control of the ship and land them in the Earth Kingdom. Perhaps Omashu? It was the closest large port city, decently far from the Fire Nation colonies that had been established on the western coast of the backwards country. Yes, Omashu. She could make more plans from there.

By the time she’d reached the end of the tunnel passage, the sun had started to set. She counted this as being in her favor. Even if father no longer showed his favor to her, Agni certainly seemed to. She propped open a sewer entrance that led out onto the street, observing the situation.

Guards were passing by each ship, sending someone aboard to inspect for stowaways. Azula cursed inwardly. How long would they be keeping ships in harbor for? It didn’t matter how large or small the ship was, the guards inspected each one in turn. Tiny fishing skiffs and grand ironclads were inspected one by one.

She needed to make herself less recognizable. Grimacing, Azula let her hair down from the impeccable bun it was usually in, then wiped the makeup off of her face. Fortunately, her clothes were already coated in dirt. Hopefully it would be enough to pass by unnoticed.

Azula waited for the number of guards to dwindle, ignoring the groans that were beginning to emanate from her stomach. It wasn’t like she could just pop out and ask servants for a snack. And besides, she’d endured worse hunger while training. By the time that the number of guards had lowered to a reasonable number, the sky had grown dark and covered in stars. Only the occasional curl of industrial smoke dared to disturb the starlit night, not a cloud in the sky to cover her tracks.  _ Wonderful _ .

She brought her full body out of the sewer, letting herself be exposed to the pale moonlight. Luckily, the guards were using torches to see. It would blind them to anything outside of the reach of their lights. She slunk past a patrol, clambering onto the iron belly of what appeared to be an industrial fishing ship. Keeping her footsteps light against the metal floor, she cracked open one of the ship’s foolishly unlocked doors, peering inside to see if anyone was staying the night aboard.

Her vision was greeted only with barrels upon barrels. Not a single person in sight. She lightly stepped over to them, taking care to shut the door lightly and not make a single sound. The barrel she cracked open was full of dead fish. It wasn’t quite as bad as the smell of the sewers, but the scent was still strong enough to make her nearly gag. She hastily slammed the top of the barrel back down, sliding down onto the metal floor in order to enter some semblance of sleep.

She was awoken by the piercing cries of gulls, calling out over the Bay of Azulon. Her eyes snapped open, wheeling around to see if anyone had come down to see her. Still, nobody. The storage deck lacked any windows to the outside world-- she could still be at dock, for all she knew. She went back to the one entrance into the hold, and held her ear at the door. Listening for footsteps, chatter, anything that would alert her to the presence of the crew she intended to hold hostage. She heard nothing but the continued cries of gulls.

She cracked the door open to be greeted by the sea and the sun. In the distance, she could see the shore and the buildings of the Caldera, slipping further and further into the distance. Excellent.

She made her way to the upper deck, keeping her steps light so as not to alert whatever crew members might be aimlessly milling about. The captain’s quarters were obvious, marked with a flag and the character’s spelling out the captain’s name. Shao, if she was reading it correctly.

Azula knocked primly on the metal door. Even if she was a traitor, refugee, and outcast, she still knew enough to be polite. She could just about discern the mumbling and confused footsteps of a man who was obviously drunk as he made his way to the door. Clearly, he wasn’t anything even vaguely resembling a threat.

The captain wrenched the door open, scanning the air about a foot above Azula’s actual height in order to look for whoever had knocked.

Azula cleared her throat. “Captain Shao, I presume?”

The man looked down at her, his eyes hidden underneath an absolutely absurd pair of eyebrows and his mouth buried behind a filthy beard. “You seem a little bit young to be a fisherwoman.” The captain said simply, as if he wasn’t looking at the girl who’d just assassinated the previous head of state.

“I think we should discuss this in your office.” Azula recommended, pushing him back into the privacy of the sparsely decorated room. The most common decor appeared to be empty bottles, emptied of what Azula assumed was alcohol. This was a weak man.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, who are you exactly?” The captain asked.

“A stowaway.” Azula answered, somewhat surprised the man hadn’t managed to put that together himself. “Where is this ship headed to?”

“We’re going on down to the Southern Sea, in order to fish. Swinging right by the Southern Air Settlement.” The man explained groggily. “I feel like I’ve seen you before. Where have I seen you?”

“That’s not important. What is important is that you’re not going to the Southern Air Settlement.” Azula shot him down curtly, looking at her sharpened nails.

The captain had the audacity to laugh. “And what makes you say that?”

She lit a blue flame in her palm. “Because your life depends on not doing that.”

His eyes widened. “You’re the crazy bitch who killed the firelord! That’s where I’ve seen you, on the wanted posters!”

“Indeed. Unless you want to go and join my grandfather in the afterlife, I highly suggest you listen to my commands.” Azula nodded. “You’re going to take a few days' detour and drop me off at Omashu. You won’t record anything of this visit on your papers. You’ll certainly not mention you’ve heard anything about disgraced royals boarding your ship. And then, we’ll part ways forever, never to meet again.”

The drunkard nodded along, his eyes laser focused on the blue flame dancing in her palm. Azula considered a few other things she would probably need. “Also, I require a change of clothes. Anything you have on hand will be better than what I’m wearing right now.”

The drunkard continued to nod. “Yes, princess-- ex-princess Azula.”

Azula frowned. She was going to have to figure out what to do about the title. “Just Azula is fine for now. It’s not like I have a right to the title anymore.”

“Yes, my-- yes, Azula.” The captain spat out from behind his beard. “Please don’t murder me.”

“Don’t give me a reason to, and we’ll get along just fine.” Azula reassured the man. “Now, where can I find a change of clothing?”

She found herself changing into a set of old fishing clothes. Fortunately for a fugitive about to make a new life in the Earth Kingdom, the clothes were grey and black as opposed to the common red used by Fire Nation citizens. The shirt was far too large, and she had to cinch the belt tight around her, but it was much better than being seen walking around in clothes for the nobility. The material was wool, and it itched at the seams. Humiliating, but Azula supposed it was fitting that her new life of shame and failure be accompanied by such petty torments. It was certainly less painful than getting executed.

The week passed oddly uneventfully. Azula woke up before the rest of the crew and went to sleep after everyone else, in order to ensure none of them tried to kill her as she slept. She averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night, and the rest of her time she spent ruminating on just how badly everything had gone to shit.

She was no longer anything. Everything that had made her  _ her _ , that made Azula  _ Azula _ , was now gone. No royal lineage, no right to the throne, no expectation of being the savior of her nation. If she was going to participate in the war, most likely it would be on the side of the barbarians who had assassinated her cousin.

Her entire life was the definition of shameful. She was a failure. Most nights, she questioned why she even kept a lookout for attempts to kill her. She was practically dead already. She supposed it was due to the final gift her father had given her, the opportunity to live. No matter how shameful her wretched existence currently was, it would be even more shameful to turn away her father’s mercy.

She dreamed fitfully. Most nights, it was a dream of Azulon holding her down, pushing a knife at her throat. Even though he was a feeble old man, in the dream he had a grip like iron as he steadily cut through to her arteries.

The other dreams were worse. Her father, lecturing her about just how much she had failed him. How much she had disappointed the nation. Ghostly figments of her mother, telling Azula how much she was loved while stacking wood on Azula’s pyre. Her brother, scowling, saying of course she’d done something like this. That she’d always been a monster, as he led the trial deliberating on her execution.

By the time the ship had pulled into the tiny river port that fed into Omashu, the crew had seemingly started to pity her. Asking her about the bags under her eyes, offering to play cards with her, trying to take advantage of her  _ weakness _ . All in all, it was a relief to be free of the idiotic, uneducated crew of brigands that called themselves fishers.

She stumbled, halfway delirious, onto the docks. Her vision swam, barely able to make out the silhouette of Omashu shining in the sun. She took a few uncertain steps, then swayed and fell back into the darkness of her unconscious.

She desperately fought to cling to the light, her eyelids heavy like lead. She could make out various shouts and screams amongst the assembled traders on the river docks. The crude Earth Kingdom accent pepper the air, harshly calling out for some kind of healer. She blinked, and suddenly she was staring up at the sky. The sun was glaring down on her, like Agni himself was calling her a monster. Just like her brother.

She blinked another time, and this time the darkness overwhelmed her.

Azula didn’t know how long she’d been asleep for when she finally resurfaced from the nightmares. She looked around desperately, not finding any information from the tent she woke up in. She was swaddled in some awfully fuzzy blankets, and the tent seemed to be stitched together out of canvas cloth. She tried to get up and run from the strange place, only to find her legs failing her.

Even her body thought she was useless, it seemed. Azula sighed, looking around the tent for anything useful. On her right hand side, someone had left a bowl of water. She hesitated, considering the possibility it could be poisoned. Although, if they were going to poison her, they could have just killed her while she was sleeping. It didn’t make much sense to take up time and space when they could have slit her throat while she was passed out on the dock.

Azula tried to reach out for the bowl, but found her arm simply wouldn’t obey. Every order she sent down to make it perform its function seemed to be either ignored or defeated by the traitorous appendage. That simply would not do.

She took a deep breath, focusing, and then forced a burst of energy down into her arm. In response, the arm slapped down onto the ground. She grimaced at the sight of it. It hadn’t been nearly as graceful as she would have liked, but it still resembled progress.

She forced another burst of energy down, this time focusing on regaining control of her insubordinate fingers. Her pinky finger wiggled slightly in response, but the rest remained in mutiny. She scowled.

“... traitors.” Azula barely managed to croak it out. Her throat was as dry as the dusty mountain city she was now trapped in. She nearly gagged on her own tongue, which felt like a leather sack someone had shoved into her mouth.

For the first time in her life, the only thing Azula could do was wait and hope somebody would come along and help her. She absolutely despised the situation. The seconds ticked by as she continued to try and exert control over her body, regaining a slight amount of control in her toes and fingers. The rest of her body remained limp, flagrantly disobeying orders.

The dull monotony of the room was finally broken when whichever miscreant had absconded with her into this tent entered the room. He was young, maybe a few years younger than her. His hair was cropped short, looking like it had been shaved until recently. Most strikingly, his eyes were grey. Like a storm cloud.

“... Water.” Azula croaked out, gold eyes meeting grey for just a second.

“You’re awake! Man, it was really touch and go for a while there. A lot of people thought you were going to be going with the spirits, you know?” The child said, practically skipping over to her while talking about her near demise. He plucked up the bowl and brought it to her lips.

“I was the only person in the camp who thought you might pull through.” He added as Azula drank greedily. The water was the most delicious thing she had ever drank in her entire life. Sweeter than any juice, cooler than any ice, more refreshing than any kind of tea, she felt it wet her dry throat.

“Whoah, you’re really thirsty.” The child noted.

“Where am I?” Azula asked imperiously, since her tone was the only thing she could use to any effect at the moment.

“You’re in the Air Nomad encampment of Omashu, just outside the city limits.” The child told her cheerily. “I’m Aang, by the way. What’s your name?”

In a moment of what must have been pure delirium, Azula told him her actual name. “I’m Azula.”

Based on the Nomad boy’s reaction, news of her treason hadn’t escaped too far outside the Fire Nation yet. Before he could interrogate more information out of her, Azula turned the tables.

“How long was I out for?” She asked.

“Almost a week? For a really long time. I was starting to worry about finding you a grave. You must be really strong!” Aang beamed.

Azula ignored the common flattery to focus on something more pertinent. “How is this an Air Nomad encampment? I thought all the monks and nuns were part of the Settlement Program.”

Aang’s eyes turned dark for a single moment, then lightened just as suddenly. “Not everybody likes to be tied down, you know? Air’s all about freedom.”

“Why are we camped outside the city?” Azula pressed onward.

“Oh. Yeah, they don’t really want to let us stay inside. The locals here think Air Nomads are all a bunch of larcenous, licentious troublemakers spreading free love and stealing babies.” Aang answered rather calmly. “At least they’re letting us stay in our camp! The last city wouldn’t even let us stay outside of their borders.”

Azula hummed in agreement with the city. The common reputation of the Air monks and nuns for stealing young women and men and whisking them off to the temples was part of the reason the Fire Nation had gone in to bring civilization to the area.

“You’re Fire Nation, right?” Aang asked. “I could tell since your eyes are so golden.”

“I was.” Azula replied shortly. He could draw his own conclusions from what she didn’t say.

Aang, for his part, nodded. “It didn’t seem like it would be much fun, being part of the Fire Nation. I wouldn’t stay with them either.”

Fortunately, Azula’s throat was too dry for her to laugh. Instead, it just came out as a dry, raspy cough. Being a member of the Fire Nation wasn’t about  _ fun _ , it was about  _ duty  _ and  _ service  _ to a system of civilization that had lasted for a thousand years. No wonder the Air Temples had been conquered so quickly, if they were so eager to run at the first sign of responsibility.

“Why did you save me?” Azula asked, surprised to find the question was sincere.

“All life is sacred. It’s not like I could have just left you to die on the street.” Aang replied, sounding somewhat confused. “What kind of monster would I be if I’d just let you lie there?”

Azula thought about that. About the frustration of not being able to move her limbs. Over the fact this Air Nomad boy, her inferior, a peasant who never should have been able to even  _ look  _ at her, had saved her life when even her own father had been unwilling to help her. She wanted to throw something at him, but her traitorous limbs still wouldn’t work. So she settled on throwing something verbal at him instead.

“I’ve killed people.” It came out venomous, even if marred by the dryness of her throat. “I  _ am _ a monster. It’s not as hard to be one as you think.”

Aang was quiet, contemplating something. “Just because you were a monster doesn’t mean you have to keep being one.”

Azula was quiet for a moment. She wasn’t sure how to respond. You couldn’t just  _ stop  _ being a shame and a blight on the history of the Fire Nation. It wasn’t how these things  _ worked _ . You had to pay off your debt somehow, do something in order to regain your honor. And for the crime of patricide, there was no amount of work you could do that would let you get it back. She decided that Air Nomad philosophy was quite foolish, and didn’t press on it.

“... So, how did you end up in Omashu?” Aang asked, as if he was trying to fill in the silence that had fallen over the tent.

“I held a fishing boat hostage for a week until they dropped me off here.” Azula replied, not even bothering with attempting to lie. What was the point? It wasn’t like she had anything worth living for other than staying alive. Might as well establish her life as a criminal with a gang of filthy Air Nomads now.

Aang whistled, long and low. “Well, I guess we’ve got something in common. We’re both fugitives from the Fire Nation.”

Azula glowered, not even dignifying that with a response. It was true, but no part of her was willing to admit it. Instead she focused on acquiring more information. “How did you escape?”

The boy fidgeted with his fingers. “I flew away on my airglider.”

Azula snorted. “If it was that easy to get out, every airbender would have done it. How did you actually get away? I told you my story.”

Aang sighed. “Me and one of the other monks tried to fly out on one of the last air bison. I was the only one who managed to make it all the way here.”

“So the monk is dead?” Azula pushed to confirm.

“And the bison.” Aang added, nodding sadly. Azula rolled her eyes. She knew there had long been rumors of bestiality between the Air Ecclesiastes and their mounts, but to hear they mourned over them too was just a bit much.

Awkward silence filled the tent once more, the nomad boy being trapped in whatever memories had brought him to this place. She decided to focus on more current events.

“So what are you doing in the city?” Azula asked, shifting the topic.

“Just living, I guess? This is the place they’ve let us stay for the longest, so we’ve just hung out here for a while.” Aang answered. “I guess we’ll probably have to move soon, since the Fire Nation is looking to start a war and everything.”

“It’s a pretty defendable place. It has a good strategic location. I doubt that the Fire Nation could take Omashu quickly or easily.” Azula pointed out.

“Sure, if they’d actually let us inside the city.” Aang agreed. “Problem is, they try to kick us out if we stay past sundown. And the Fire Nation would just drag us back to the camps, so keeping a move on it is.”

“So you’re just going to give up.” Azula said flatly.

“It’s not giving up! It’s not like Omashu is home, anyway. We’re all trying to get to the northern Air Temple.” Aang shot back indignantly. “They’re supposed to still be free from Fire Nation control.”

“So instead you’re just squatting here like a bunch of lazy bums instead of moving towards your goal.” Azula sniped.

“Wow. You’re really determined not to like us, huh?” Aang asked rhetorically. “First of all, we’re here to gather up on supplies and money. Not everybody moves at the same pace. It’s not like we’ve all got one big leader guy telling us when to go and when to stay. Second of all, just because you’ve got one general goal doesn’t mean you can’t stop and smell the flowers.”

Azula sighed. “Yes, the beautiful odour of Omashu. The smell of dirt, manure, fish guts… and not terribly much else.”

“You’re only saying that because you haven’t been inside the actual city. It’s actually a pretty neat place! And they’ve got this really cool mail delivery system.” Aang told her, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

“How do you know? You said they wouldn’t even let you inside.” Azula pointed out.

“Pfft. Just because there’s a law doesn’t mean I can’t sneak inside. Besides, I’ve got a friend who can let me in.” Aang said, punctuating the last part with a wink.

Now that was something Azula was familiar with. Infiltration and exfiltration, making contacts, smiting enemies. Maybe there was something to this nomad boy after all. She tried to straighten herself up, her spine stiffly bending to allow her a better view of the tent she was in. It seemed like the water had done her some amount of good.

The tent was filled with knick knacks. Some creature with ridiculous ears was feasting on a melon in the corner, it’s enormous eyes shining wet. A staff was slung over the entrance, something she guessed to be Aang’s airglider. A collection of various bobbles Azula guessed were  _ souvenirs  _ littered the small tent-- a model statue of Kiyoshi, a folded paper crane, a piece of molten glass. In the darkness of the tent, she could just barely make out what seemed to be a memorial shrine. She guessed it was to the monk who’d given his life helping Aang flee from the Settlement Program. She didn’t see another bed.

“Where have you been sleeping?” She asked, confused.

“Oh, I guess I’ve just been sleeping on the floor while you took the bed. I figured it’d be easier for you to heal if you were comfortable.” Aang told her. “Do you think you can get up?”

She tested her legs, which wobbled frustratingly but at least still seemed to obey her orders. She slid them out from underneath the woolen blanket, letting them fall onto the cold carpet of the tent. Taking in a deep breath for preparation, Azula launched her weight haphazardly to stand on her own two feet.

Two seconds of glorious victory were snatched away from her by her own miserable lack of coordination. Her legs bent awkwardly under her own weight, like she’d managed to forget how to stand in just a week. She tumbled down onto the floor, furious.

“Looks like you need a little bit of time to work on it.” Aang said sympathetically. “It’s okay, you just need to rest a little more.”

“I don’t need to  _ rest _ , I need to bring the rest of this traitorous body under control.” Azula snapped at him, turning over from where her face lay on the floor to look up at him. “I’ll be walking by the end of the day.”

“I really don’t think that’s healthy.” Aang said, concern creeping into his voice. Azula scoffed. He had barely even known her for a few minutes, what right did he have to be concerned? He probably just wanted her in his debt so he could  _ use  _ her.

Azula’s eyes narrowed as she refocused on putting energy into her limbs. No matter how sore, protesting, or mutinous her body was, she refused to allow herself to be in this nomad boy’s care any longer than was necessary. Over the groaning protests of her knees, over the shakiness of her arms, and over the dull pain in her spine, Azula asserted herself over her body. Aang watched on with a mix of worry and amazement as she forced herself into a walking position.

“I’ll be going now.” Azula said curtly. And then, as an afterthought since the nomad boy  _ had  _ saved her life. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

Her hair slicked with sweat, clothes clinging to her body, traitorous nerves screaming at her to slow down, Azula stepped out of the tent into the large nomad camp. Tents of various grey, orange, and yellow hues were strewn about the campsite. A fire was burning somewhere, based on the crackling noise and smell of smoke. As she was about to make her way towards the fire to figure out how to get food and water, she felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

Instinctively, she gripped it and twisted, finding herself putting Aang in the position where she could break his wrist. The stress was clear in his expression. “Don’t sneak up on me if you don’t want to get burned.”

The boy nodded, and she let go of his wrist. “Was that an adequate display of my ability to move under my own power?”

He had the gall to laugh. “Yeah, it seems like you’re one tough cookie. But you should probably still take it easy?”

Azula huffed. Clearly, he couldn’t appreciate the scale of the victory Azula had just won against her nervous system. Ignoring him, she strolled down towards the campfire. Aang settled in behind, most likely to catch her in case she fell again. As if she couldn’t handle herself. Azula scowled as she reached the campfire, where a circle of Air Nomads were tending the flame.

The oldest, a man with a thick beard, looked at her in surprise. An ugly scar ran down his bald head, ending at his brow. It was like someone had wanted to burn the hair off of him. “You’re awake.”

He didn’t elaborate on the statement. 

“Yes, I am.” Azula didn’t elaborate either. He’d give her more information by trying to figure things out about her. Unfortunately, her traitorous stomach took the moment to growl, interrupting her well planned silence.

“Oh, there’s dried plantains to eat if you want some!” Aang offered excitedly, snatching one off of the sticks that hung over the fire. The boy was still trying to baby her.

“I can get one for myself.” Azula said, ignoring what he was holding out to grab her own from over the fire. The texture on her fingers felt horrendous, but it wasn’t as if she had any choice other than to eat. Her chewing was robotic, monotonous, allowing the silence to stretch out.

“Tenzin, you should have seen her! She fell over the first time she tried to get out of bed, but then she just super laser focused and managed to stand up!” Aang recounted the story of her ignoble failure with the same breathlessness a toddler might recount a story about school.

“Is that so?” The older man, Tenzin evidently, raised a single bushy eyebrow.

Azula shrugged as she continued to break down the awful item of food, ignoring her body's desperate pleas to wolf it down as fast as possible. Let him draw whatever conclusion he wanted from it.

“Tell me, Fire Nation girl. What were you doing in the Earth Kingdom a day before the war was declared?” Tenzin asked her, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She thought about that. It seemed entirely too quick for the Fire Nation to have declared war. She would have thought it’d be at least another week. “The Fire Nation declared war already?”

“They say an assassin from the Earth Kingdom came into the capitol and slit Firelord Azulon’s throat.” Tenzin informed her. “And it wasn’t as if your people don’t have a certain penchant for war.”

Right. These Air Nomads were probably still sore about the whole conquest thing, if they’d been so upset with civilization to flee towards the barbaric lands of the Earth Kingdom. At least Azula hadn’t fled here by choice.

“I was banished. Exiled.” Azula said simply.

“So you’re not a spy?” The old man asked.

“If I were a spy, I highly doubt I would’ve been so weak as to collapse from exhaustion on the docks of Omashu.” Azula pointed out. “The Fire Nation puts a good deal of money into ou-- into it’s intelligence gathering.”

A minor slip up, but enough for this Tenzin man to run her out of the camp or hand her to the authorities. Now her own tongue was a traitor as well? She kept speaking in order to bury the mistake. “If you really thought I was a spy, you could have simply killed me while I was sleeping. You had ample opportunity to take care of me.”

It would’ve been a dirty, ignoble death, but that seemed fitting for a girl living a dirty, ignoble life. It wasn’t like she particularly deserved better.

“Tenzin, she was moaning in her sleep. She was having a lot of nightmares. I think the Fire Nation hurt her, the same way it hurt us.” Aang added to her case, at the same time betraying her vulnerability to dreams. He’d heard her rambling in her sleep, which meant he could have pieced together a lot more about her than anybody else. She might have to kill him, if he continued to be so indiscrete. She turned her glare from Tenzin to the nomad boy.

“That’s not as helpful as you think it is.” She said sourly.

“Sorry, I just thought it might help your case.” Aang said awkwardly.

“Please avoid such indiscretion in the future.” Azula reprimanded him. “I still have the right to some amount of privacy, after all.”

Tenzin sighed. “As long as you’re not a threat to us, Fire Nation girl, you’re allowed to stay here.It is our custom to take care of weary and sick travellers. But I recommend you leave sooner rather than later. Many of us here don’t have many good memories of the Fire Nation.”

Right, if she stayed too long the rabble were likely to kill her. Threat received. “That won’t be a problem. I’ll be gone before the sun sets.”

Aang looked at her in shock. “Are you sure? You only just started getting up and walking around. I think you should spend a little bit more time resting.”

“You heard the man. If I stay here too long, someone’s likely to kill me for the crime of being a Fire national.” Azula pointed out. “Besides, I’m sure I can find somewhere to stay inside the actual city.”

“That was  _ not  _ what I was implying!” Tenzin said indignantly, his eyebrows flying up like caterpillars. “We wouldn’t murder a  _ child _ .”

Azula rolled her eyes. If he wanted to deny the implications to her followers, she wouldn’ stop him from it. “Still, I’m not likely to be popular here, right?”

Tenzin didn’t bother denying that part. “So I’ll just get out of your camp, and we never have to interact again. Easy, clean, simple. Really, Aang, you don’t have to be so dramatic.”

Aang was looking at her with a mixture of shock and worry. Was this boy always so worried about people? She’d recovered perfectly fine, she even got to eat and drink before leaving. He’d done more than enough.

“You might not be able to get into the city, though.” Aang said awkwardly. “They kicked all of the Fire Nation people out after the war was declared.”

Now that presented a significant thorn in Azula’s plans. She looked at the shape of the mountain city in the distance, a proud Earth Kingdom flag flown over its ramparts. She positively itched to burn them.

“You said you had a way to enter, though. A friend on the inside.” Azula recalled.

“Well, yeah.” Aang admitted. “I don’t think you’d really like him, though.”

“It’s not a matter of like or dislike. I have a goal, and he’s a method of achieving it.” Azula cut his protest down. “I refuse to spend another night in this camp.”

“Is it really that bad to stay here? I think it’s pretty nice, if you get to know it.” Aang deflected casually. “At least let me show you around first.”

“Aang.” Tenzin growled. “Be careful of where you take her. Don’t let her see anything too important.”

Azula smirked. Even if she was banished and destitute, peasants still managed to realize she was a threat. Except for the nomad boy, obviously, but he was an exception. The child was clearly wrong in the head. “I’ll be sure not to try and bring any civilization to the area. You have my word.”

Tenzin glared at her, something she graciously ignored. He would probably be more annoyed by her not seeing him as a threat than anything else. She could feel Aang’s hand grasping her wrist, pulling her towards the rest of the camp. Azula turned to follow him, although she made sure to break the grip with a sharp tug.

He was walking too fast. Azula assumed it must be some kind of air nomad thing, and refused to even entertain the idea she might be walking slower due to her medical issues. Azula was in perfect control of her body.

Aang had brought her to a small collection of stones, some kind of cairn. Along with the small structure was a small plate of incense, and a scroll inscribed with characters Azula couldn’t recognize. Air nomad script seemed to be quite different from the character system used by civilized countries.

“What is this?” Azula asked, gesturing at the general area.

“Well, we couldn’t really make a proper temple here, so we created a shrine! Isn’t it pretty?” Aang asked her. “It’s nothing like the huge temples we had in the mountains, but I kind of like it more than those. It’s more… human?”

“You mean it’s small. Dictated by your own lack of resources.” Azula clarified for him.

“I guess you could put it that way.” Aang nodded. “But I like to think of it as, even in the midst of so much suffering and adversity, people still came together to make something spiritual.”

Azula decided not to get into an argument at the moment about that. He was her only way into the city, after all. Instead, she pointed a finger at the scroll. “What does that say?”

“Oh, those are the writings of Laghima the sage. Tenzin reads from it sometimes!” Aang said cheerily.

“Can you read it?” Azula asked.

Aang had the sense of mind to look ashamed of something for once in his life. “There wasn’t really room for Air Temple script in the Fire Nation curriculum. They said all we needed to learn was Fire Nation characters in order to read.”

“So you’re still literate.” Azula stated. “Those characters are probably more useful, anyway. They’re much wider known and used.”

Aang shrugged. “I think I’d still rather know how to read Air Temple script though.”

“What’s stopping you?” Azula asked. “I’m sure plenty of the older people here still know how to read it. They could teach you.”

“I don’t think they like to think about it.” Aang told her, still looking sad. It was starting to annoy Azula. He could smile through her telling him she was a murderer, but when it came to learning a few characters he decided to get all mopey?

She picked up the scroll. “How hard could this be to read, anyway? It looks like they just use the same characters over and over again. Either Laghima is incredibly repetitive, or this should be simple to learn.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy.” Aang said warily. “Could you put the scroll down?”

Azula scoffed. “That’s what cowards say to tasks they could accomplish if they just went on to put effort in. Don’t talk like that.”

Still, she placed the scroll back on its stone dais. No point in pushing things forward further than necessary. “Take me somewhere else.”

Aang lit up, grabbing her lightly by the wrist again in order to pull her somewhere else. This time, it was towards a crook in the river where a willow hung over the waters. The tents disappeared into the distance, leaving only the baleful glare of the sun and the distant alabaster silhouette of Omashu for company.

“This is my favorite part of the river. I like to take baths here, sometimes.” Aang said, hopping up onto one of the willow’s branches.

Ugh, of course they bathed out in the open. Azula had been trying not to think of what she probably smelled like at this point, but even with that smell she refused to bathe where anybody could see her.

“Do you want to go for a swim?” Aang asked her casually, dipping a toe of his in the water.

“In the Fire Nation, we bathe far away from prying eyes.” Azula answered smugly.

“Huh. But what about hot springs?” Aang asked inquisitively. There was no cutting edge to his voice, no attempt to undermine her. Just the question itself.

Azula thoroughly disliked that. “Hot springs are for boorish peasants who can’t afford a bath in their own quarters.” She snapped, levelling Aang with a glare.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I’ll take you to a private swimming pool and you can pay the entrance fee.” Aang said sarcastically, smiling as he rolled up his pant legs and unbuttoned his shirt. “Come on, it’s just a bit of fun.”

Azula didn’t budge from the shore as Aang fell like a stone into the water. She simply took in the view of the river. How far was it, from here to the Fire Nation? A thousand  _ li _ ? Maybe more? She could recall crystal clear the image from the map, but the exact number was hiding from her. She tried to clear the thought from her mind. It didn’t matter how close the Fire Nation was, it wasn’t exactly like she could go back.

_ Azula _ , she could almost hear her father saying.  _ You will not fail me a second time. Do the only honorable thing you can and disappear. _

_ Of course Azula murdered grandfather _ . This was Zuko now, shouting in his characteristically dramatic fashion.  _ She’s nothing but a monster! _

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a sudden splash of water to the face. She whirled to look at the nomad boy, smiling at her from the water.

“You can’t splash me back unless you get in the water.” He pointed out, grinning.

Now that did it. She wasn’t going to let this nomad boy win against her, no matter the cost. She rolled up the sleeves to her unwieldy shirt and waded into the water. “You’ve just started a war you can’t win,  _ nomad boy _ .”

She dove into the water, cutting through it like a knife in order to reach her target. She kicked and jabbed to let the water splash out at the insolent child, trying to focus on putting strong force into each action so he couldn’t escape. Frustratingly, he proved to be a fantastic dodger. It took her five minutes to get a solid hit on him, splashing a jet of water directly into his face.

Taking advantage of his distraction, she followed up on that by taking his head and dunking it viciously under the water, and then kicking him away.

“Ha! I win!” She crowed victoriously. “Air nomad tactics are no match for the combat prowess of the Fire Nation!”

Despite his humiliating defeat, Aang was still smiling.

“What?” Azula demanded of him.

“You got into the water with a boorish peasant.” He pointed out, his grin growing wider. Damn him, the nomad boy was right. He’d  _ baited  _ her into the water with his childish tactics. Still, Azula had won the water fight. She was the clear victor here.

“That’s a nice way of deflecting from your humiliating defeat,  _ nomad boy _ .” She said calmly, keeping the grin plastered on her face. She looked down at her clothes, now soaked through. “Although it does seem I need a change of clothes.”

“Oh! I bet we could get you something from the camp! There’s a ton of Air nomad robes there.” Aang said excitedly. “I bet you’d look really nice in one. The yellow and orange would match your eyes!”

Azula paled. She might not have technically been the princess of the Fire Nation, but any Fire national deigning to wear the robes of savages still chafed.

Then again, did she have any other option? She didn’t exactly want to be further in the nomad boy’s debt, but he seemed too unintelligent to actually comprehend how to use that debt properly. “Fine.”

She spat it out. “I can wear some Air nomad rags before finding appropriate clothing to wear.”

Aang nodded as he hopped out of the water, drying himself off with a sudden gust of air. Azula dragged herself out of the water, her woolen shirt clinging to her skin. Frustrating. She’d let herself be baited into a silly game for the sake of nothing and now she would have to change. She sniffed at the shirt.

Well, at least it smelled less awful now.

She followed behind Aang, wandering back through the camp. She started scanning the camp’s inhabitants. They all seemed to be older, and male. It was quite feasible that Aang was the youngest person here. In fact, looking around, she was relatively certain that the next youngest person was at least 15 years older than Aang.

Most children wouldn’t have survived the trip, she guessed. Whatever frivolities he might have, Aang was definitely a survivor.

What seemed to be a communal dressing area was a few racks of grey, yellow, and orange robes and shirts. The material didn’t seem to be too different from the tents, when she inspected them closer. The discomfort wouldn’t be a problem, of course, but she still had to wonder where on Earth they’d gotten all of the material from.

She took a grey robe to replace her current outfit, simple and utilitarian. She would find more Kingdom appropriate clothing once she was inside the city. For now, all she could do was change into these rags.

“Aw, you’re going with grey?” Aang asked. “That’s such a sad color.”

Azula ignored him and looked around the dressing area, looking for something. She couldn’t find anything resembling a changing room, though. They didn’t seriously all just change in front of one another, did they?

“Where’s the dressing chamber?” Azula asked Aang.

“The what?” Aang said, confused.

“The place where people go to change. Unless you’re that keen on seeing me naked, I’d like to have some privacy while I change outfits.” Azula clarified, adding a casual barb to the end of the sentence.

“Oh. Oh!” The boy’s face flushed suddenly. “No, we don’t really have one of those. I guess you could change in my tent?”

Azula rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll go change in the tent.”

She couldn’t believe they just changed out in the open like that. Did they have any kind of shame? Although they did all seem to be men, Azula realized. Maybe that was the reason why they felt so comfortable changing out in the open.

She opened the flap to Aang’s tent, stepping inside the dimly lit space. The lemur was still there, licking at a melon rind.

It didn’t take long to change, although the robe fit awkwardly on her. Once again, whoever it had been made for had been a man, meaning it fit awkwardly around her chest and was a good size too large. She tied the edges of the robe dragging on the floor into a knot, transforming it into something resembling more of a skirt than a robe.

“Are you alright in there?” Aang asked, nervousness adding a tremor to his voice.

“No, I’m completely naked and have no idea how to put this on and desperately require your assistance.” Azula sneered, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she pushed the tent flap open to walk outside. “Of course I’m alright. There’s a rodent eating your melons, by the way.”

“Oh, that’s Momo! Those are his melons.” Aang said happily.

“Animals can’t have property. That’s what separates them from people.” Azula said sweetly, as if she was lecturing a child.

“Maybe, but try taking those melons and see how much  _ you  _ like it.” Aang said sourly. “Little guy doesn’t like to share at all.”

Azula smirked. Maybe her and the creature had a little bit in common after all. Both stuck in this rotting camp, begging for scraps.

“So, how do I look?” Azula asked the boy, gesturing at her makeshift outfit.

“Like a girl wearing her father’s clothes.” Aang answered honestly.

Azula nodded. “I thought as much. I can find something better fitting in the city.”

Aang smiled in return, like he was imagining a lovely stroll into an Earth Kingdom boutique rather than a smash and grab job. Although Azula supposed Air nomads were known for being excellent thieves. Maybe he could be useful beyond just giving her a way into the city?

“Oh, there’s one more thing I wanted to show you!” Aang exclaimed suddenly, grabbing her hand again. The boy was exceedingly touchy, wasn’t he? It was like he’d never been hit in a spar before.

She acquiesced to the grip this time. She couldn’t say why. Because she didn’t seem to need the free hand? Because-- Agni forgive her sappiness-- it was somewhat comforting? Regardless, she allowed herself to be dragged to one last destination.

The location Aang had brought her to was clearly a grave. Chipped stone blocks displayed the names of the deceased, along with other markings Azula assumed to be peasant blessings and prayers. Aang made his way to the far edge of the graves, dragging Azula along with him.

“This is Appa.” The boy said with a mixture of sadness and pride. “He gave his life helping me get here.”

Ah, so this was the grave of the monk. Azula wasn’t entirely sure why the boy wanted to bring her  _ here  _ of all places, but she wasn’t one to be an ungracious guest.

“I think Appa might have liked to meet you a lot. He was always friendly to new people, even if they weren’t friendly towards him.” An obvious slight aimed at her previous behavior.

“Do you want to say hi?” Aang asked her, gesturing towards the grave.

“I thought the Air nomads believed in reincarnation.” Azula pointed out. “Would it really make any difference?”

“Not really. But it’s nice to pretend, sometimes. That he’s listening.” Aang said sadly.

Azula was quiet, contemplating. Trying to settle on what her next question with this idiotic boy who’d saved her life would be.

“Why are you doing this?” Was the question she settled on.

Aang’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Why am I doing what?”

“Helping me. My people invaded yours. We’re the reason your beloved monk is dead. It’s not exactly like I’m a pacifist or anything, we’re not-- it doesn’t make sense.” Azula finished awkwardly. Clearly, her rhetorical skills were lacking since her mild coma.

“You’re not responsible for what the Fire Nation does. You’re just a kid,” Aang said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The best thing you can do against hate is try to get people to understand one another.”

Azula snorted. “So I’m a project to convert over to Air nomad philosophy?”

“No. I just want to understand you. Is it really so hard for us to try and be friends?” Aang rebutted, cutting past the sarcasm.

“You don’t know me. Like I said, I’m a murderer. I don’t think I’d be able to mesh well with pacifism.” Azula pointed out the obvious. “Once I get past the walls of Omashu, I’ll be out of your way. I’ve been too weak, allowing myself to be doted on like a  _ child _ . I don’t need that in my life.”

“So you’ll just continue all alone? Don’t you want any friends?” Aang asked.

“I don’t need friends. I need allies.” Azula replied succinctly.

“Allies for what? We don’t need to fight any wars.” Aang pointed out.

Azula tsked. “War is coming. We won’t have the option to not fight a war, and pacifists don’t have a great track record with military prowess.”

For the first time since she’d met him, Aang’s features twisted into indignation. “What is with you? I’m trying to be nice and all you can focus is war, war, war, tactics, tactics, tactics. Do you even know how to have fun!”

_ Of course you don’t _ , Zuko whispers in the back of her head.  _ You’re nothing but a monster. _

“I can have fun.” Azula protests. “I’m great at having fun! But in the midst of a war is not the time to have fun. I can’t even believe this is an argument I’m having over a monk’s grave.”

“This is Appa’s grave.” Aang said sullenly.

“Yes, the grave of the monk who died getting you out of civilization.” Azula repeated.

“Appa was my air bison.” Aang says angrily, and Azula suddenly feels like she’s crossed a line that could alienate the one person who seems invested in her continual survival.

“I see.”

She doesn’t add anything else. So far, her conversational skills seem to be failing her. Probably the nomad’s fault, really. Nobody showed him the proper etiquette to having a conversation. Or, it seems, taught him anything about duty and honor.

“The Air nomads always had a special bond with their bison. Once you were picked, it was a bond that you had for life.” Aang continued, ignoring her slip up. “Appa was my best friend. We were supposed to go out together, but he gave his life up for me.”

Azula nodded. “Your chance to live was the last thing he gave to you.”

Aang was silent, contemplating. Azula decided to try and make her point clearer, hushing the part of her that was indignant at consoling the boy over a lost pet. “The best way you can honor his sacrifice is to keep living. Your beast obviously wanted you to stay alive.”

He was still silent in a way that was unnerving. As much as she’d disliked the idiot personality, at least it required less emotional introspection from her. She tried to think of a way to…  _ comfort  _ him. Restore the group morale.

“Listen.” She said, a touch louder than she had been before. “When someone is sacrificing their life for you, you have a duty to live on for them. To achieve the goals they were expecting of you. Anything less than total victory is an insult to their sacrifice.”

“I don’t think that Appa had any goals he wanted me to achieve total victory in.” Aang said. “I think he just wanted me to live.”

More silence. Azula isn’t sure what to say. She could open up about herself, the expected thing for her to do, but refuses. The one time she’d try to think more for herself, she’d gotten banished. So she settled on silence.

She’d done her part. Azula gave a polite bow to the grave, and turned on her foot to leave. She had better things to do with her time than wait around at a graveyard. For once, Aang didn’t follow her around.

Which was good, Now she could scope out the encampment unhindered, and make a plan to… to what, exactly?

She was a disgrace to the Fire Nation and no amount of work she put in could make her worth something again. Her murder had been used to further the war effort, of course. The last mission she’d accomplished for her father.

Azula shook her head, trying to clear it, but it was no use. The voices came back anyway.  _ I can’t believe I wasted the effort to keep you alive _ . Ozai growled from behind her, his voice heavy with disappointment.

_ Azula, I love you. Why wouldn’t you stay home and die with me?  _ Ursa asked, her voice trembling with tears.

_ I’m glad she’s gone. Now I don’t have the competition anymore, and I can just lead the Fire Nation to ruin _ . Zuko said, his voice haughty.

“You’re not here.” Azula told them all, trying to anchor herself in reality. She focused on the dirt underneath her feet, the wind swirling through the camp, the dank smell of rot that seemed pervasive to this horrible place. “You’re not here, you’re not here, you’re not here…”

She kept repeating it like a mantra, trying to drive the voices back.  _ Of course we’re not here. _ Ozai said.  _ You’ve been driven thousands of li away because of your lack of ability. _

_ I’ll always be here for you, Azula. I love you. _ Ursa pleaded, as if she hadn’t called Azula a monster behind her back for years.

_ I’m just glad you’re banished somewhere nobody will be able to find you. Now someone who isn’t a monster can take the throne _ . Zuko told her.

She kept whispering the mantra. She would be in control of her own mind, even if these damned passengers had hitched a ride with her.

“I’m pretty sure I am here?” The voice cut through clearly. Not like the traitors in the back of her head, smokey and dangerous and  _ loud _ , but plain and simple. Azula looked up to see the nomad boy staring at her. Great, now he’d caught her in yet another vulnerable moment.

“So you are.” Azula agreed with him.

“Were you talking to somebody? I could hear you from the graveyard.” Aang asked her, grey eyes trembling with so much concern. With more concern than even her father had shown while throwing her to the wolves.

_ How dare he pity her _ .

“I’m fine.” Azula snapped at him. “I just needed a bit of time to myself, that’s all. Are we going to meet with your inside source soon?”

Aang nodded, his worry sliding off of his face. Of course he hadn’t actually been concerned about her. It was just his Air nomad philosophical coddling, looking to swoop in and take care of somebody who was weak.

Azula stood up on feet that were still rebellious, forcing her weight to be evenly distributed. She wasn’t going to spend another night in the nomad’s tent if she could help it.

Aang began to walk away, his steps notably more solemn as he dragged his feet. Azula followed him for what she hoped would be the last time. The sun was beginning to lower, changing the sky from blue to orange as long shadows crawled over the dusky rocks that made up the outskirts of Omashu. It seemed like Aang was leading her towards a sewer grate.

Azula grimaced. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to crawling through the sewers  _ again _ . At least this time she’d be able to get a change of clothes immediately afterward.

“Hey Azula!” Aang called out to her. “Watch this!”

She was quite surprised when, instead of hopping into the sewer through the widely spaced iron bars, Aang proceeded to run directly up the wall and leave her down on the ground. So  _ that  _ was how he could get into the city at night. Inside source her ass.

She could see the outline of him staring down at her, most likely smiling. Thinking he’d managed to  _ beat  _ her. Unperturbed, Azula ignored the aching pains throughout her body and broke into a run.

If an Air nomad could run up a wall with help from bending, then Azula could too. She focused the heat out through her arms, and while her flame had clearly grown weak since it was no longer the same vibrant blue it had been, it still served to propel her up the walls.

Panting, she forced more flames out from the soles of her feet to launch her further upwards. She could feel the sweat beginning to cling to her body, and did her best to ignore it. She would  _ not  _ be a failure again.

She had made it about halfway up the wall when her flames began to sputter and die. The flame coming from her left hand died out first, vanishing into smoke. Then the flame from her right, curling into ashes.

Even her inner fire was a disappointment and a failure. Azula felt the pull of gravity reasserting itself, tugging the core of her weight down, down, down.

Well, it wasn’t the worst kind of death. At least she’d die quickly once her skull split against the ground. Father wouldn’t have to worry at all about her being an embarrassment anymore.

She strikes the ground entirely too soon, with it merely driving the air out of her lungs instead of tearing her skeleton into pieces. Fantastic. She’s even a failure at dying.

She looks up at the sky to see an orange bird, floating down from the clouds to visit her. She can feel the rumble from the earth as it starts to move. It would appear that Aang knew an earthbender. Wonderful.

Yet another person she’s indebted to.

Aang landed down on the earthen platform, his eyes full of pity. He kneeled down, trying to look in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Stop that.” Azula said, glaring at him.

“Stop what?” Aang asked, confused.

“Caring.” Azula said simply. “It’s undignified.”

To her surprise, that starts the nomad boy laughing.  _ Laughing at her _ . And her  _ weakness _ . It takes him a moment to calm down and say something through the chuckles.

“Wow, you really are dedicated to the whole not having fun thing!”

“You should’ve just let me die.” Azula says bluntly, trying to drive in her point. “I’m useless. I can’t even accomplish one simple task correctly.”

His laughter died right there. “Azula, you managed to scale half a wall with your firebending after just waking up from a coma. It’s a miracle you could even bend in the first place.”

“You managed it.” Azula pointed out. “I should have been able to do it too. I’m not a  _ failure _ .”

_ Except you are _ , her father whispers from the back of her head, but Azula does her best to ignore him.

“I don’t think you are.” Aang said. “Nobody’s a failure as long as they keep trying.”

Azula scoffed. “You sound just like my uncle.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Aang smiled at her.

“You shouldn’t.”

The earthen platform shuddered to a halt, and then deposited Azula onto the wall ramparts. A boy around Aang’s age, with wild hair and even wilder eyes, looked at her. “Jeez, lady, if you had been a little more patient you would’ve saved us all a lot of trouble.”

Azula smirked. Oh how true that was. “I’m not exactly the patient type.”

“Bumi, this is Azula. Azula, Bumi. This guy is like a mad genius!” Aang exclaimed excitedly.

“I can see the mad, but I fail to see the genius part.” Azula quipped, as if she wasn’t crazier than he was. Clinically speaking, voices in her head probably weren’t a good sign for mental health.

The kid frowned. “Well if that’s how you treat your friends, I’d hate to see how you treat your enemies.”

Azula glared at him. “We’re not friends. We’re just temporary allies.”

Aang had the audacity to look positively wounded. She turned her glare onto the nomad boy instead. “I think I was quite clear on where I stood on this.”

“Both of us just saved your life.” Aang pointed out to her, like this meant something.

“I don’t recall asking you to.” Azula stated.

She heard a sigh from Bumi. “If that’s how you feel, I won’t try to save you next time, then.”

“Perfect.” Azula said. “Since I do technically owe you, I’ll try to save yours, but just the one time.”

“This is the girl you spent the last five days nursing back to health in your tent?” The peasant boy asked Aang. “I figured she’d be less…”

The boy trailed off, leaving her to fill in the blanks. Less cruel? Less vicious? Less weak? As if just by talking to the person who’d nursed her while she was unconscious he’d truly know her. Azula straightened up her sore body, and forced herself back up onto her feet.

“Yeah, she’s kind of a lot. She’s really good at water tag, though!” Aang tacked on at the end, as if that was the best thing about her. Not her prowess at bending, not her force of will, not her tactical superiority. No, what really made her stand out was  _ water tag _ .

Aang looked at her, his eyes still full of pity. “Are you sure you can stand? It’s okay if you want to rest for a little bit. Bumi took care of the guards.”

She raised her eyebrow. “I thought you were all about pacifism.”

“I didn’t kill them, ya psycho. I just trapped them in crystal! I’ll take care of it in the morning.” Bumi chirped happily, one of his eyes bulging out. “So, what’s this about a shopping trip?”

“I need clothes to blend in with the Earth Kingdom peasantry. As  _ serviceable _ as these rags are, they don’t exactly scream Earth Kingdom.” Azula explained, pulling at the uncomfortable robes in distaste.

She looked at Aang, swaddled in the familiar nomadic colors of yellow and orange, and amended her command. “Aang will most likely need some too, once the war gets here. If the Fire Nation army finds him, they’ll put him back in the camp.”

“Whoah, hey, why should I change?” Aang asked incredulously. “I’m not the person from a nation that declared war on everybody.”

“Not everybody. Just… half.” Azula pointed out. “And you need a disguise if you want to sneak past city gates without a pet earthbender behind the walls.”

“Hey!” Bumi protested. “If anybody’s the pet, it’s Aang!”

Azula ignored him. “Do you really plan on staying in that camp forever?”

“I mean, I guess not.” Aang stuttered out. “But I wasn’t planning on leaving so soon. I mean, the Fire Nation can’t get here that quickly, can they?”

Azula let him ponder the answer to that question, only for Bumi to fill in the silence. “They’ll be here sooner rather than later.”

Aang sighed. “Let’s just focus on getting through the city without getting caught.”

Suddenly, his grey eyes lit up with excitement. “Azula, have you ever ridden the mail delivery system?”

“Have I ever what?” She asked imperiously.

“Oh yeah!” Bumi added on to the energy. “Don’t worry, you probably won’t fall off of a cart and die.”

She was outvoted by two fools she wouldn’t be able to scare into submission. She sighed. “Very well. We’ll take the… mail delivery system.”

The earth peasant boy’s smile widened as he turned around. “Alright! Just make sure to keep your hands and legs in the cart if you’re a boring fuddy-duddy.”

Azula rolled her eyes. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be more difficult than scaling the wall had been. Or at least, she sincerely hoped it wasn’t.

Bumi stomped his foot down on the ground, forming a set of stairs running down the other side of the wall into the city streets. Omashu was a dreary little city, with the buildings clustered close together. It looked more like an antbee hive constructed by people than a properly planned city.

Maybe that was what Aang liked about it? The same way he’d liked the shrine. All about working within the constraints of available resources. The green slate tiles of roofs pushed in overhead, crowding out the stars in the sky. The city lights were lit by luminous crystals set in lanterns, one of Omashu’s primary exports. It made sense they would use their own mining supplies to light the city.

The streets were suspiciously silent. In a city of this size, usually there would be crowds of people still milling about in the streets even in the dark of night. But stalking through the cobbled streets of Omashu, it was like they were wandering through a ghost city.

“Is there a curfew set?” Azula asked suddenly. “Because of the war?”

“Guessed it in one!” Bumi said, his voice echoing through the streets. “Everybody’s hiding in their homes like a bunch of scared rabbitsquirrels. We’ve got the whole town to ourselves!”

Azula allowed herself to relax a fraction more. Despite the reassurance from Bumi, she still felt as if she were being watched. Like eyes were following from the shadows.

Really, how well did she know this Bumi character? He could be leading her and Aang into a trap, so he could hold the princess of the Fire Nation hostage and try to end the war before it got out of hand. Then her treason would become public and she wouldn’t even have the honor of being quietly erased from the history books. Instead, she’d be written down as ‘Azula the Kinslayer.’ A maniac who’d led the Fire Nation into war for no discernible reason and then got herself caught by the Earth Kingdom at the most inconvenient time. Her humiliation would be recorded for centuries, her thoughts and failures picked over by historians trying to figure out where she’d gone wrong.

_ An appropriate end for a failure like you. If only you’d been more competent, you could have avoided this fate entirely _ . Ozai spoke to her from the shadows.

She turned around to snap back at him only to be confronted by Aang, who was holding onto her hand.

“You know it’s okay to not be okay, right?” He asked her. His eyes still pitying her. “We can slow down if you need us to.”

“I don’t  _ need  _ anything other than to get out of this city as quickly as possible.” She snarled. “Stop  _ pitying  _ me.”

“I’m not pitying you. I’m just trying to make sure you’re in a healthy place.” He told her, somehow still calm.

“I’m good enough to carry out the mission.” She hissed. “That’s all that matters.”

And it was. She could ignore the voices and the shadows. She would be perfectly fine. She always had been. Azula managed on her own, and she didn’t need or expect friends or family to pick up her slack.

Aang backed off, looking sad. Like she was the one who’d hurt him.  _ Good.  _ Azula thought to herself.  _ Maybe next time he’ll do the smart thing and leave me to die _ .

Their procession continued in silence until they reached the base of one of the stone bridges that ran through the bridges.

_ Not bridges _ , Azula realized upon closer inspection.  _ These were miniature tracks _ .

The Earth Kingdom evidently had an imitation of a proper rail station. How quaint. The earthbending peasant stomped his foot again, lifting one of the carts for the track into the air.

“All aboard.” He gave a dramatic stage whisper. Clearly, Aang had a terrible taste in friends. Azula clambered into the cart, standing in it. It was too small for her to sit down in by any stretch of the imagination. So much for her arms, she supposed.

“So how does this work, exactly?” Was what Azula was about to ask when the wild-eyed earthbender let out a whoop and slammed his foot down again, sending Azula and the cart rocketing off into the distance.

Azula cursed inwardly as the air whistled past her ears, blowing her air all around. So much for discretion. There was another whoop, which she assumed was the same madman launching Aang forward.

Whirling through the air, her feet pressed against the stone edges of the cart to keep herself balanced, and her mind swirling with shadows of a life she had to abandon, Azula decided to finally let go a little.

She let out a howl into the night, letting out all her anger and frustration. There were no carefully aimed words to it, only the pure animalistic noise of emotion, snatched away by the wind. For perhaps the first time in her life, Azula felt  _ alive _ .


	2. Whirlwind

Aang shivered at the noise of a piercing cry howling through the night. It wasn’t clear where it had come from, but it expressed something deeply primal that shook him to the core. Bumi let out another whoop from behind him, clearly excited to be on the tracks.

Well, if the Prince of Omashu was doing it, who was Aang to judge? He opened his mouth and let out a rush of air and noise, rippling across the city. Azula would probably yell at him for it later, talking about his indiscretion or something. He’d deal with it later.

What was Azula thinking? She’d been so hard to read since she’d woken up from her delirious state. At first, when he’d been tending to her, she’d seemed so broken. Crying out for her mother and father, begging her grandfather not to kill her. Now… Well, now she seemed like she was the person who’d done the killing. It was all incredibly confusing.

With a sudden slam, the cart threw Aang out onto the ground. Just before he slammed into it, he brought his hands out to form a ball of air, nimbly dodging the blow. He landed lightly on the cobblestone, slowing his descent with small bursts of air to lift him upwards.

Somebody was clapping slowly at his display. Aang looked up from the ground to see Azula, her eyes as unimpressed as ever as she brought her hands together.

“Bravo, nomad boy. You just about managed to miss the ground.” She drawled at him. Aang bowed theatrically in response.

“All in a day’s work. Breaking, entering, that kind of thing.” He played it cool, straightening out of his bow to walk closer to the girl. He opened his mouth to say something else when another frightening slam jolted him.

Bumi didn’t even attempt to dodge the ground, slamming into it at full force.

“Now these are some hard rocks!” He said, completely unfazed by the brunt of force he just took to the face. Although his face was completely buried into the dirt, Aang could tell he was still smiling madly.

“Well, I suppose we’ve just lost the element of surprise.” Azula said nonchalantly, as if she were discussing the weather. “We should get a move on before we have to kill somebody. Wouldn’t want to step on poor Aang’s morals.”

Aang ignored the jab in his direction, instead focusing on looking for an appropriate clothing shop. He could try and teach Azula about being a good person later. Bumi had sent them to a middle class district, the perfect place to look for average Earth Kingdom clothes. Azula would definitely find something for her to wear here, and then she’d be gone.

If you’d asked him a day ago, Aang would have said it would be unconscionable to allow a girl who’d just woken up from a coma go off into the wilderness on her own. Now… Well, now that he knew Azula, he was pretty certain she’d be just fine on her own. The girl was an absolute powerhouse.

Beautiful and terrifying.

He continued walking down the street, looking at the various shops. Most of the shops here were for blacksmiths and sculptors, most likely earthbenders peddling their wares. Here and there were a few butchers Aang could practically smell the death coming out of. And of course, there were plenty of bars open, their signs advertising names like ‘The Crosseyed Turtleduck’ or ‘Bearcat’s Surprise.’

Aang wasn’t sure what exactly would surprise a bearcat, but he figured he didn’t really want to figure out. And still, no sign of a clothing shop anywhere.

Bumi punched Aang in the shoulder to get his attention.

“Your girlfriend is wandering off.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Aang corrected him. “I don’t even want to think about what kind of person she’d be interested in.”

Bumi shrugged. “Either way, we should probably follow her before she murders someone.”

Aang started to say something about how she wouldn’t just  _ kill  _ somebody and then paused, reconsidering. He glided over to Azula as she appraised one of the shops on the street.

“See anything you like?” Aang piped up behind her, trying to keep his voice low.

Azula tilted her head a little, focusing in closer on the shop. “Nothing so far. I guess they haven’t exactly caught up to the latest fashions here.”

And then, just as casually. “We’re being watched, by the way. Don’t start looking, he’ll notice.”

Aang froze his neck in place before he could start craning around to look for someone. Instead, he kept looking at the interior of the boutique Azula was studiously examining. The dresses inside were colored in swathes of dark green and gold colors. Others were a light brown color, wrapped around delicate golden silk.

“So, what are we going to do about that?” Aang asked quietly.

Azula shrugged. “Most likely wait. If we start a fight to drag him out, we’ll alert the authorities even more than we have already.”

Right. The screaming. “Do you think he’ll report us if we break in?”

“He seems to be the tattletale type.” Azula confirmed. “I think he’s following us around because we broke the curfew.”

“Why? It’s not like we’re dangerous or anything.” Aang whispered.

Azula rolled her eyes. “Maybe you aren’t.”

Right. Azula was still a murderer. “How do you want to get inside?”

Azula walked off to the side of the shop, looking for something. Aang followed her, hugging his airglider close. He really didn’t like the feeling of being watched, and the quietness of the city that had seemed so nice before now felt oppressive.

Against Azula’s advice, Aang found himself scanning the shadows. What kind of creepy guy was just watching them from the shadows? Each alleyway and shadowed window now felt like it was hiding something. Why couldn’t people just be nice and ask them what they were doing like normal human beings?

Aang’s thoughts on the police state were interrupted by the sound of metal hitting stone. He whirled around, staff at the ready, only to find that Azula had melted the padlock off of the door and had entered. She beckoned him to follow, a lazy curl of her fingers the only acknowledgement that he was even there.

He frowned, stepping inside the doorway. Most of the clothes here seemed to be cut out for women, if he had to guess. Lots of overly elaborate dresses with pink sashes spilling out from bows that had been tied ever so neatly.

Aang sidled up to Azula and whispered, “None of these clothes really seem like you.”

Azula pursed her lips. “Earth Kingdom fashion for women is lacking in utility, it would seem. Do they just want their woman sitting around and doing nothing?”

Even though it was dark, Aang was certain just from her tone that she was sneering. “So, what are we doing here then?”

Azula made her way behind a counter and kneeled down. “Mostly, we’re luring out whatever busybody is following us. But while we’re here, we might as well stock up on money.”

Aang’s eyes widened. “You’re going to take all of their money?”

“You seemed to be fine with taking their clothes.” Azula pointed out, not even looking up from where she was.

“Well, yeah, they’re not going to miss one or two outfits! Taking away all of their coin could ruin the business!” Aang pointed out, trying to make her see the obvious.

“Yes, because this business is clearly struggling.” He couldn’t see her face, but Aang was certain Azula was rolling her eyes.

Aang sighed in exasperation. “Fine. Just don’t take all of it?”

A moment of silence passed in the darkened clothing boutique. Aang took the moment to look out the window at the moonlit streets, seeing the shadows dance in the city. The artificial lights seemed to cast out shadows against the wall, moving them around the street.

“If you insist, I’ll only take half.” Azula relented. “That should be more than enough money to make it to the next city.”

Aang beamed. This was progress! Maybe with a little bit more effort, Azula could actually see beyond his insistence and actually think about other people! “Thanks, Azula.”

Azula straightened up from where she had been kneeling, her hands full of various coins made of copper, silver, and gold. “Don’t thank me. If anything, you should be apologizing for sabotaging our mission. Do you have a bag for these?”

“I’ve got some pockets?” Aang offered, turning them out from his pants.

“Acceptable for now. Has our dear interlocutor entered the shop yet?” Azula asked, striding over and dumping the coins into his hands.

Aang shifted them into his pockets, where they made something of a jangling noise. “I don’t think so. Oh, we should get a bag or something too! While we’re here.”

“I’ll add it to the shopping list.” Azula drawled, peering out the window. “... It would appear he’s gone. Hopefully he ran off to tell the police-- we should be able to get out of here before anyone else arrives.”

“Yeah.” Aang said softly, relieved that the shadows were gone. “Hey, where’s Bumi?”

“The simpleton? I thought he was with you.” Azula told him as she stepped out into the street, her mouth set in a grimace. “Maybe he’s causing more of a ruckus somewhere else. It would certainly work out better for us.”

The street stretched out before him, empty and pale. Azula strode down it, and the image she struck suited her. A woman in the moonlight, grave and serious, her motions considered and even despite her obvious physical injuries.

Aang reminded himself she was a murderer and didn’t want anything to do with him. When that didn’t work, he reminded himself they were being chased by someone and should probably be getting a move on.

With soft, careful steps designed to produce as little noise as possible, Aang followed her. The next shop Azula broke into was much less upscale than the last, filled with the kind of clothes you’d wear at a tea shop or a blacksmiths rather than to a banquet. Based on the sharp glimmer in Azula’s eyes as she appraised them, she approved of these clothes much more than those of the previous shop.

“You need something too.” Azula said, breaking the silence. “And a bag, like you mentioned earlier.”

“Right.” Aang said awkwardly, running his hands over rough fabric and considering what to take. It wasn’t like he hadn’t stolen before, but a part of him still felt off about taking the money earlier. Still, it was just material possessions, right?

He settled on a light shirt without sleeves, cut in a light green color. The pants were beige, a pale brown with darker brown insets on the pockets.

Now to find a bag. He looked around the shop for accessories, hoping he wouldn’t have to use leather or any other animal products. It was gross enough everybody in the Earth Kingdom liked to eat murdered animals, but the idea of wearing the corpses of those animals was even worse.

His eyes skipped over the first couple of leather bags he saw, and finally settled on a sack made of burlap. Relieved, he plucked it from the selection and added it to his new wardrobe.

“Mission accomplished!” Aang called out to Azula, grinning. He could see that she was looking over her own choice of clothing, an Earth Kingdom piece that came with pants instead of a dress.

“Excellent. Keep watch while I get changed. If somebody kills you, try to die loudly so I can avenge your death.” Azula said in her usual clipped tone, moving towards a pair of slatted doors in the back of the shop.

Aang rolled his eyes. “Yes ma’am. My pleasure, ma’am.”

There was no reply. Either Azula hadn’t heard him, or she hadn’t considered his taunt worthy of one. He sighed and kept an eye on the window as he transferred the coins from his pocket into the burlap sack.

From the definitely wealthy store they’d stolen it from. Which could definitely take the loss and was most likely insured for it anyway, right? Property was less valuable than people’s ability to live, anyway.

Aang remembered the time he and Kiran had stolen from a peach farm while on the run, hopping over the fences like a ghost. Kiran had said it was already a crime to try and reduce nature to a method for profit, so they were just restoring the balance of things, a perspective Aang rather liked.

The people who’d owned that store were probably a bunch of stuck-up Earth Kingdom nobles anyway. He and Azula were just… putting things back in balance.

Something moved in the corner of Aang’s eye. He froze, his eyes locking in on the spot. It was a piece of cobblestone that had suddenly shifted in the road, now turned directly towards the shop they were in. Aang backed away from the window, his measured steps tracing over the wooden floor.

He blinked, and when his eyes opened again it was like every cobblestone on the street was dancing and shaking, spelling out some ominous message about the future.

“Azula? I think we’re in trouble.” Aang called out, gripping his staff tight.

The changing room doors snapped open and Azula stepped out, her outfit perfectly tied together in green and yellow. Her piercing golden eyes were flared in annoyance. “What kind of trouble?”

Aang tried to think of how to describe what he just saw. “The street is… dancing? I guess?”

“Earthbenders, then. Could it be Bumi?” Azula asked. “Do you think he might have betrayed us?”

“Bumi wouldn’t do that.” Aang said firmly. “Maybe it’s a warning?”

Azula looked out the window at the same scene, her eyes roving across the street. “Whatever it was, the street’s stopped… dancing, for now. You’re sure of what you saw?”

Aang hesitated. Maybe he had just been seeing things? It was a pretty eerie night, after all, and it wasn’t like he’d been getting a lot of good sleep lately. When your bed goes to a girl raving in her sleep, the floor isn’t exactly a great comfort.

“Our lives are on the line, nomad boy. Yes or no?” Azula reminded him, her palm lighting up with a dull flame.

“Yes! I think.” Aang told her, faltering on the last part.

Azula made her way away from the window. “You don’t think, you either know or you don’t. So, do you know?”

“Yes. I know.” Aang decided. His voice managed to sound more confident than he actually felt, his heart thumping in his chest. If he was wrong, it was something they could laugh about later, right?

Not that he thought Azula enjoyed laughing that much.

“There’s a backdoor here somewhere. We’ll take that exit.” Azula informed him, slipping over the cashier counter and making her way towards the doorway into the back room.

Aang propelled himself over the same counter, following her. The back room was significantly darker than the main presentation room they’d entered. Only the red glow of Azula’s small flame served as a light source, and that light cast strange shadows on the mannequins jumbled together amongst the walls.

He shivered. Their limbs were splayed this way and that, in absurd contortions that mocked the idea of how an actual human being was supposed to walk. The odd lighting made the effect worse, creating the illusion some of the models had multiple heads, legs, or arms.

“Can you fly both of us out of here?” Azula asked suddenly.

Aang shook his head. “The airglider won’t get too far with two people on it. I mean, we could try, but I don’t think we would get far.”

Azula was quiet, contemplating. Aang scooched closer to the light coming from her hand, trying to get away from the grasping limbs of the mannequins.

“We don’t necessarily have to get far. We just need to get out of the reach of whatever earthbender is after us. You’ll just need to get us to the mail delivery system, and I can take care of the rest from there.” Azula told him, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Aang considered the idea. They hadn’t gotten that far away from the mail station, but could he actually make the distance?

Without waiting for a reply, Azula had already opened the back door and grabbed him, pulling him outside with her. Fumbling with his staff, Aang clicked the wings open. He gulped, holding it tightly with both hands.

“You’ll have to hold on to me.” Aang told her, stumbling over his words a little.

Azula nodded as she grabbed onto his shoulders, fingernails digging sharply into his skin. “Of course. It’s not as if there’s a seat I can settle onto.”

“We’re also going to have to get a running start.” He told her, his palms feeling sweaty as he kept holding onto his glider.

“Ah.” Azula released her grip. “Right. I’ll follow behind you and grab on when you lift off, then.”

His throat tightened as he summoned the wind under his feet and fed it into the glider’s wings. He could feel the momentum building up under him, the familiar call of the air to ride freely through the sky lifting under the unfolded wings of his glider and up into the clouds. His muscle memory fumbled as he felt Azula dig into his shoulders once again, the sudden added weight dragging his body downward.

Aang focused on the winds around him, trying to push more and more in order to compensate for the sudden added ballast. He and Azula shot out of the alleyway like an arrow, slicing through the streets. As if on cue, the moment they ended up on the street a stone fist shot right past Aang’s ear, grazing him.

“Dai Li. Interesting.” Azula noted underneath him, like she was commenting on a choice of food or a particular set of furniture.

His heart beating like crazy, Aang desperately willed the wind to not force him onto the ground. Another stone fist flew by, and Aang twisted the airglider to avoid it.

“He’s following. I don’t think we’ll be able to fly away.” Azula told him, disappointment clear in her voice. “We’re going to have to try and take care of him.”

“Please tell me that doesn’t mean you’re going to kill him.” Aang squeaked out as the ground started to drift ever closer, the stones shifting in his vision.

He heard Azula sigh underneath him. “If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them, but for now I’m rather certain we’re in a kill or be killed situation. There’s a stone fist about to smash into your back wings, by the way.”

Aang shifted his position, feeling Azula still clinging onto him as another stone hand flew by. He could almost feel how close the glider wings were to the ground, something that was exacerbated by the sudden appearance of a wall in front of them.

He could feel the lingering pain of Azula’s fingernails digging out of him to drop onto the ground as he willed his body to wrench itself upwards vertically.

Too little, too late. The edge of one of the unfolded wings caught and slammed into the earthen wall, bringing the rest of Aang’s body down with it.

The wind was knocked out of his lungs almost instantly, and he heard an incredibly worrying cracking noise accompanied by a sharp burst of pain in his wrist. His head swam for a moment, the world dissolving into a multicolored swirl without distinction or clarity. He heard noises that could have been construed as voices, maybe even a conversation.

Aang focused on trying to breath, his hands shaking despite the twinge of pain from his right wrist. In, and out. In, and out. Slowly, the color began to resolve, lines and distinctions beginning to shape themselves out from the previously soupy mix the concussion had brought on.

Everything appeared to be lit with an eerie blue tint, mixing in with the light from the crystal lamps lining the streets. Aang blinked, trying to see if the color would go away as the shouts and sounds of moving rocks continued somewhere.

Shouts and sounds?

Rocks. Rock wall? He’d just flown into a rock wall, somehow. That was weird. Aang was pretty sure he was old enough to steer upwards before slamming into a wall. Had Bumi played a trick on him?

No, Bumi was… Gone? Gone. Why was he gone again? Aang tried to remember.

Dai Li! Right. The cops were after them. Them?

Him and Azula, Aang remembered. His eyes suddenly snapped open. Azula! He folded up his glider, trying to ignore the pain as he turned around to see a furious river of blue fire slam into a wall made out of solid stone.

Azula looked almost wild, her eyes wide and her mouth panting as she crisply maneuvered into a different form and sent another spout of blue flame towards the Dai Li agent. She clearly had him on the underhand side, his face set in a grim mask of determination painted by sweat.

What should he be doing? Aang didn’t have any idea. Air nomads weren’t  _ designed  _ for fighting, but he’d tried running away and that clearly hadn’t worked out. And it wasn’t like he could just  _ abandon _ Azula, even if he was kind of terrified of her. Terrifying or not, she had actually helped him get a new set of clothes. And some money, although he felt less comfortable about that part.

Plus, he still had to find Bumi. 

Aang started walking up to Azula, taking it slow at first before his legs got steady. She continued to pummel the outlying stone wall, although at this point it seemed like the Dai Li agent had actually bended himself under the city’s streets rather than continue to fight against the insanely competent young woman who managed to hold a blue flame.

Could all firebenders do a specially colored flame? Aang wondered about it for a second, entertaining himself with the idea of a firebender having a rainbow colored fire show as Azula slowed her attacks down.

“The guy you were trying to fight escaped, just so you know.” Aang told her as he leaned on his glider staff with his left hand side. “Also, I think I broke my wrist.”

Azula growled. “Coward. He couldn’t even stay and fight me.”

She threw one last blast of blue fire towards the stone, then turned towards Aang. “On the bright side, it would appear my full bending prowess has returned. So at least one thing has gone right tonight.”

“And we got the clothes!” Aang added happily. “We… did kind of lose Bumi, though.”

Azula hummed. “I mean, strictly speaking, the crazy boy isn’t a necessity for our escape.”

“He saved your life.” Aang pointed out to her. “Plus, I’m not leaving him in the hands of the Dai Li. Those guys are  _ creeps.”  _

Azula sighed petulantly, like he was asking her to clean up her room instead of helping her save an innocent person he loved from the hands of the secret police.

“You don’t have to go with me. You were planning on leaving without us anyway, right? We can just… part ways here. It’s okay.” Aang told her, trying to mask the disappointment in his voice. Admittedly, the concussion made it difficult.

“Don’t be an idiot.” Azula spat. “If you try to break into a prison with a broken wrist and a concussion, you’ll be captured before your eyes can even blink. And you’re my only real ally, so it’s not like I can just let that happen. It would be disgraceful.”

“Oh. Thank you?” Aang said, confused.

Azula rolled her eyes. “Don’t thank me. You’ll owe me for this. And we’re still being stalked by the Dai Li.”

“Right. Wow, that’s a lot of stuff that’s happening, huh?” Aang suddenly realized, the ground once again wobbling under his feet. “That’s so many things happening at once.”

Azula smirked. “Indeed. Are you able to walk straight?”

He took a tentative step forward and didn’t collapse. Azula sighed, but didn’t give any further criticism.

“Do your best not to slow us down. We’ll want to get him out before they have him in a secure cell.”

Aang nodded, ignoring his head swimming with the movement. “So… how are we going to find Bumi?”

“You’ve been arrested before, I’m assuming.” Azula told him. “So you should know where we can find the closest cell they’d put him in.”

“First of all, I’ve never actually been caught.” Aang said indignantly, raising a finger in protest. “Secondly, I don’t think my head is the most reliable source of information right now.”

Azula huffed. “Disappointing. Well then, I suppose I need a different plan. Maybe we should focus on making a distraction? Allowing Bumi the space to free himself.”

“Oh yeah!” Aang said excitedly. “I can make like, a tornado or something! I’m great at distracting people.”

“You definitely are distracting.” Azula agreed with him, turning her attention down towards the stone. “Why do you suppose the stones were moving around earlier? It feels strange they’d give us a warning to their approach.”

Aang shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe they forgot how to be sneaky?”

“Right, they just forgot decades of training with the secret part of them being the secret police. Even the Earth Kingdom isn’t that incompetent.” Azula scoffed at the idea. “There was something else at play there.”

“Bumi?” Aang asked. “He’s like a super good earthbender.”

“Yet they captured him. Or he betrayed us. Neither option makes it likely he’d send us a signal. Most likely he’s a traitor, turning in a potential spy before the war between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom really kicks off.” Azula theorized rapidly, Aang trying his best to follow her words. The word traitor stood out, and it irked him.

“No. You don’t know Bumi the way I do. He’s a mad genius who’s loyal to his friends! Plus, he kind of hates the Earth King?” Aang added on the last part uncertainly, trying to recall the specifics of the conversation they’d had when they first met.

It had been in the middle of winter, just after Aang had escaped from the camps, his body pockmarked with small burns and his clothes singed through. He’d felt more like an animal than a human being, then.

Bumi had found him on the top of the mountain, and when Aang had refused to come down Bumi had stomped to force Aang down. Something about politics… the nobility? If Aang had to guess, Bumi hated any nobles despite being one himself. Talking about the Earth King’s weakness, their inability to actually do anything meaningful against the Fire Nation, and how the Dai Li were pigs in human clothing.

Aang had laughed at the last part. That was probably the relevant information he was looking for. “He called the Dai Li pigs in human clothing. If he was going to sell us out to someone, it wouldn’t be them.”

“You could’ve mentioned that earlier.” Azula said darkly, her eyes narrowing in frustration. “You’re really testing my patience.”

Aang smiled. “Sorry I’m not remembering things clearly after I just got knocked in the head, hotman.”

“Ugh. Totally antiquated speech.” Azula said, condescending as ever. “Well, we assume Bumi was maneuvering the stones then. If he could still earthbend, why didn’t he escape on his own?”

“He’s way smarter than me. I’ve got no idea.” Aang said honestly, his head starting to throb a little bit less.

“We’d better find out quickly, before the Dai Li get back here. I’m not certain how much longer we could survive in a direct fight while outnumbered, and I’m sure the agent that escaped will be back with more.”

“Oh!” Aang perked up. “I know where we can go!”

Azula allowed one eyebrow to quirk upwards in interest.

“There’s this cabbage shack in the lower levels! It’s totally inconspicuous, and the guards hate him because he keeps giving free food as donations to us!” Aang explained excitedly. “So even if he tries to call for a guard, they won’t come help him!”

As soon as that was out in the air, Aang slapped a hand over his mouth. The way it was phrased, he’d just told Azula she could basically murder this guy and nobody would care! Plus, what if the Dai Li ruined his cabbage stand?

He looked at Azula, who looked like she was evaluating her outfit for the day instead of a hiding place.

“It’s acceptable. If the cabbage seller doesn’t want to cooperate, we can just make him” She said with such a degree of finality Aang was certain she would murder him.

Aang stumbled backward, trying to think of the most polite way to ask Azula not to murder the nice vendor who gave out free food to refugees. “Let’s try not to make him? Please? I don’t want more people to starve because one refugee tried to take advantage of him.”

Azula rolled her eyes, and then looked down at the ground suddenly. “We have to go. Now.”

“Now?” Aang asked.

“The stones are moving again. Let’s get going,  _ quickly,  _ before they manage to trap us again.” Azula said, grabbing him by the wrist harshly.

He followed awkwardly as Azula dragged him down another alley, then jumped onto a roof to go further down. He could hear a rumble of anger in the house, but they were already going further down by the time he could ascertain any exact words.

“You know this place better than I do. Directions?” Azula asked him suddenly, her voice completely passive despite the fact they were running for their lives.

“Down to the west! By the main gate!” Aang managed to spit out as they jumped from a roof onto one of the mail rails heading further downhill.

Azula nodded and let go of his hand to break into a faster run. “Keep up, or they’ll catch you.”

No other words of comfort were appended to the end of the statement, in typical Azula fashion. Aang sighed, willing the air under his feet to make up for the soreness in his limbs and his difficulty making his body work right.

As the two ran, the clay workings began to shudder, feeling more and more unstable. Aang didn’t particularly notice, the lightness in his steps helping him avoid the worst of the sensation. Azula, however, seemed to be running even faster now. Aang shot a look behind them, and was greeted with the sight of two agents skating down towards them as they kept running.

“Azula!” Aang called out, not sure what to do. “They’re gaining!”

The rumbling continued as they ran. Azula looked back at the agents, and then at Aang. “I can do something, but it will make a lot of noise.”

“Stealth is already out the window at this point, I think.” Aang pointed out, his legs aching.

Azula turned on a pin, a full 180 degrees. Aang had to jump over her in order to avoid smacking into the second thing that night, twisting around to see what she’d do.

She dropped into a firebending stance, her knees locking still as her hands widened apart. As if in response, Aang felt the ozone crackle around him. It was almost like Azula was pushing it away from herself through her bending. Could firebenders affect the atmosphere too? Something about that was disquieting.

As Azula waved her fingers into two sharp points, the crackle became more definite in the air. Aang was reminded of the night Appa had been carrying him and Gyatso between thunderstorms, the air rumbling with energy.

Aang’s eyes widened as the pieces clicked together in his head. Azula had almost completed her stance, and he could see the lightning coating her hands as she was mid-thrust to point in the direction of the two agents following them.

In a split second decision, Aang grabbed her wrist and yanked it to the right, the lightning shooting out with a horrific crack as the ozone collapsed back in around them. It lodged itself in the roof of a nearby building, ripping off the tiling and scorching a good portion of it black.

Azula turned around on him, her eyes filled with-- something. Betrayal? Whatever emotion she felt in the moment was soon overtaken by anger, and then that same passive mask from earlier reasserted itself, twisted in annoyance.

“Are you trying to get us  _ killed,  _ nomad boy?” She asked pointedly. “Or are you just trying to kill yourself? Do you know how insanely dangerous what you just did was?”

“We can’t kill them. It wouldn’t be right.” Aang told her. “Just because they want to capture us doesn’t mean we can resort to murder.”

Before Azula could shoot a retort, the railing under them collapsed. Stones shuddered out onto the street below, Azula and Aang plummeting along with them.

_ The sky looks beautiful,  _ Aang thought as he fell. Stars glittered clearly in the night sky as he spun himself around and created a small vortex around them to cushion the fall. He wouldn’t be taking another possible head injury tonight if he could help it.

“Now that they seem set on killing us with falls, can I start shooting to kill back?” Azula asked acidly. “Since it appears I need your permission for it.”

“No.” Aang said solidly back. “We don’t need to be on their level. It wouldn’t be right.”

“But it would be significantly easier.” Azula pointed out, as if expediency mattered more than the lives of two human beings.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to take the hard way.” Aang informed her, not giving ground on the issue. “Even if they’re our enemies, they’re still just doing their jobs. They still have friends. Families.”

Azula snorted. “Because  _ that’s  _ worth so much. We should get moving.”

Before Aang could follow up on what she meant by that, Azula began running again.

So much  _ running. _ How could Azula keep up with this pace? Aang barely could, and that was with major help from his airbending. And hadn’t she already nearly died earlier, trying to scale the wall?

Aang tried to tuck the worry away, for something he could work on later. He wasn’t good at it.

“It looks like the Dai Li stopped chasing us, at least.” He whispered to her, shaping the air so it would go directly to her.

Azula blinked before replying, thrown off by the unexpected angle of hearing. “Yes, it certainly  _ looks  _ like that. But without confirmation, it would serve us better to try and find the place you mentioned earlier.”

“Right.” Aang said as they slowed down the pace somewhat. Azula was allowing him to take the lead, it appeared. He stepped ahead, feeling a little bit strange to be back in control after seeing exactly what Azula was capable of. His hair was still standing on edge, and an odd surge of nervousness was still present in his body running through his chi like a flash flood.

“So… what happened with your family?” Aang asked, curious. Trying to piece together what he knew from her ramblings in a state of delirium would be a lot easier with some input from her. And maybe steering her onto the path of… good was a strong word, but not murdering people offhand was a decent start.

She was silent. Right, presumably a touchy subject. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m just curious.”

The reassurance seemed to annoy her more. “My older brother is an idiot, my mother is a weakling who spoils said brother, and my father is a man doing his best under a lot of work pressures. Happy?”

“Not really. It sounds like you had a lot of difficulty with them growing up.” Aang said honestly, deciding not to press on the topic of the grandfather she’d begged not to kill her while she slept.

That seemed to annoy her even more. “It wasn’t  _ difficult.  _ Just annoying. I would have been perfectly fine if I hadn’t made the mistake of getting caught.”

“Caught doing what? ...Murder?” Aang stumbled on the second part.

Azula was quiet again, and silence filled the gap as Aang hopped from one edge of the moonlit street to the other. This low in the mountain city, the crystal lamps had disappeared. Only dim fires and candles lit the streets along with the moon.

“It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.” Azula said, picking up the conversation where they’d left it.

“With the Dai Li? Or with your family?” Aang asked, genuinely curious to see if she was beginning to regret her attempt to take other people’s lives this soon.

“Family. Obviously. And it was my fault, really. My father made it clear he still had plans with them, and if I’d been--” Azula cut herself off suddenly. “Is there an Air nomad trick to making people open up? What trick are you using here?”

Aang shrugged. “Being genuinely concerned about your wellbeing, I guess? I just want to understand how anybody could take a life.”

Azula smirked. “It’s not exactly hard to do. Just make sure they don’t write an incriminating note with their own blood.”

Again, with the flippancy. Had she been taught how to do that? Had her  _ father  _ taught her that? If he had, Aang sincerely hoped she would never see the man again. He sounded horrifying.

“I’m glad you’re not with your family anymore.” Aang said sincerely. “It sounded like a really bad situation for you to be in.”

“And this is so much better.” She replied bitterly.

This time Aang was left without an answer. Was it better for Azula’s spirit? Almost definitely. But physically? Away from all of her friends and family, as horrible as they might be? This wouldn’t be the time to push on it.

Fortunately, the necessity of getting a proper response was obviated by the emergence of the home of the cabbage vendor.

“We’re here.” He said simply, cracking open the back door commonly left unlocked. He hoped Cabbage Guy wouldn’t be too mad about him breaking in. Although in Aang’s defense, this time it was for a pretty pressing reason.

The interior was dark, lit only by a candle that was fading to its last piece of wax. Azula glanced at it, and the flame glowed blue and brighter.

“So. I take it we still want to help out your stupid friend?” Azula asked.

“Obviously! I’m not going to let the Dai Li do… whatever it is they do to people!” Aang said, sharper than he meant to.

Azula sighed. “It really would be easier to just leave him there.”

“Doing the right thing is usually hard.” Aang rebutted.

Azula sat down in a wooden chair, an unusual admission of exhaustion for her. A long sigh came from her before she said anything coherent. “As much as I hate to admit it, we need to rest before we can get him. I’m not in the mood to fall into another coma.”

“But they could be getting further away with him!” Aang pointed out angrily.

Azula shrugged. “Most likely, I don’t think they’ll be leaving the city. The war will come here sooner rather than later, given its importance as a foothold in the southern Earth Kingdom. If it weren’t for the war, I doubt there’d even be any Dai Li here in the first place.”

He settled down into another chair, the weariness suddenly overtaking his limbs again. He could take just a small nap, right? Bumi maybe knew what he was doing. Probably. Hopefully.

Before he could come up with any protest, the blank darkness of sleep overtook him. The darkness of sleep was quickly replaced with Bumi, wrapped in crystals with two Dai Li agents at his side. He was still smiling, despite the situation.

“Hey Aang!”

Aang smiled. “Hey Bumi.”

“Did you know these guys are expert interrogators? Didn’t realize it when they were talking to me, though. I think they’re bad at their jobs.” Bumi winked his less buggy eye with the last part. “Did you get my little message?”

“I… the stones moving? I guess so. That was more Azula than me, though.” Aang admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Bumi shook his head. “C’mon, Aang. I thought you knew how to think outside of the box by now.”

Suddenly, the scene flipped. The two Dai Li guards were trapped in crystal, and Bumi was holding chains around their necks. “Man, at least that Azula chick knew what a betrayal was! You’re a big old dummy for assuming that I was someone who actually  _ cared  _ about what’s happening to the Air nomads.”

Aang blinked. “I… what?”

“You heard me!” Bumi said, still smiling wildly. “I mean, you thought that I actually wanted to associate with you dirty rats?”

Bumi was larger now, more intimidating. The Dai Li agents were like rock candy in his hands, crackling with electricity. Without even looking down at them, Bumi took a bite out of them. Red dribbled down his mouth.

Suddenly, Bumi was switched with Azula. “Do you honestly think you can do anything to protect people? Your people couldn’t even protect themselves from us. What makes you think I’ll let myself be stopped by you?”

“You’re not responsible for what your country did to my people. We were just kids when it happened.” Aang said sadly.

Now Gyatso was trapped in the crystal candy, which Azula took another bite of. The giant Azula relished it, chewing deeply, and smiled. Her teeth were blood red.

When she spoke again, it was with Gyatso’s voice. “Our ways are passing out of the world, Aang. I fear we might not be able to hold onto them for much longer.”

“No!” Aang shouted. “That’s not true! We don’t have to get on their level, even if it looks like the only way!”

Azula tossed the candy away, which shattered to reveal the cracked and broken limbs of Gyatso’s body. Scorched by lighting, burns running over his body, skin blackened like coal where the lightning had run through him.

“What if it’s between your ideals and staying alive?” The voice was a mix of all three, now, bearing down on him.

“Don’t you feel like you’re trapped in a box for thinking about pacifism?” Bumi asked.

“Are you really so naive to think you can just get rid of a murder by  _ talking  _ to them about mommy and daddy?” Azula sneered.

“Couldn’t we have saved more, if we had been more willing?” Gyatso asked, his voice tinged with a deep sorrow.

Aang’s heart was beating fast, his breathing getting disordered. “Everybody else is trying to wipe out our culture. If we don’t stick to our morals, we’ll just be helping them do it faster!”

“It’s not so hard to be a monster.” Azula told him, a ball of blue flame burning in her hand.

“We’re just adding other tools to the repertoire!” Bumi said, holding a jagged shard of crystal in his hands.

“It’s too late for us now. What’s been lost will never be recovered again.” Gyatso intoned, his burned hands ending in sharp claws.

“We just want what’s best for you, Aang.” All three said at once, and they tore into him with fire and crystal and claw.

Aang snapped awake, panting in the chair he’d fallen asleep in. The sun was in the sky somewhere, the portion of it coming through the window strong and clear. A beautiful day to have your best friend kidnapped by the secret police.

Azula was also sleeping, probably as fitfully as he had been. He could see her twitch every couple of seconds, snarling at enemies that weren’t there.

Somebody knocked at the door, and Azula instantly jerked awake. She bolted out of the chair and looked out the window, trying to confirm who it was. Despite the rudeness of her awakening, the steps were fluid and smooth. It was almost like she’d practiced them before going to sleep last night. Whatever she saw, from the expression on her face it was clear she didn’t like it.

“Probably a customer.” Azula said sourly.

The knocking on the door continued, louder this time. Another noise emanated from upstairs as somebody shuffled out of bed, the floorboards above them creaking with the added weight.

“I guess it’s time for us to go then.” Aang said.

Azula frowned. “Can we go outside? Air nomads and Fire nationals aren’t legally permitted in the city.”

Aang held up the new outfit he was wearing with aplomb. “Why, I’m sure I don’t know what aspersion you’re casting on my family name, miss…?”

“I can go by Jun.” Azula answered.

“And I will be Mister Pippenpaddleopolis!” Aang declared excitedly. Bumi had helped him pick out the name last week while they were sneaking through the city together.

Azula choked back something Aang hoped was a laugh. “No. You’ll be Lee.”

“Lee.. Dai?” Aang offered.

“Just Lee. Short, easy to remember, easy to be forgotten in a pinch. People will remember the name… Pippenpaddleopolis.” She said it as if each syllable physically pained her.

Aang grinned. “I don’t know. Maybe try saying it a couple more times, see how it feels in the air?”

“I  _ refuse  _ to argue about this.” Azula said as the knocking on the door continued and there was grumbling coming from upstairs. She opened the door quickly, giving the most terrifying smile to the woman who’d been knocking.

“Good morning!”

Azula said it like someone who had no idea at all what pleasantness or happiness was  _ supposed  _ to sound like, and had decided to make up for their lack of knowledge with enthusiasm. Or, Aang supposed, more likely force.

“Oh, I… good morning?” The woman asked, backing away from the door.

“I’m Jun, and this is my brother Lee. We’ll be going now.” Azula said stiffly, walking past the woman and beckoning at Aang to follow her.

The woman’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize that he had children!”

“He doesn’t.” Azula said, suddenly dropping the facade of cheeriness that had so unnaturally animated her face before. “Lee, it’s time for us to go.”

Aang stepped past the threshold. “Sorry about my sister. She isn’t really great with people.”

“I’m a people person!” Azula said, without a hint of irony. Aang would have said she pouted, except her face managed to stay still as a stone. Did she actually believe that about herself? More to figure out later, then. They slipped by the woman and went out into the streets of Omashu, now lit by the sun.

Aang remembered the last couple of times he’d broken in with Bumi, the streets had been bustling with people. Now, where rivers of people had flowed through there was only a stream. Small groups of people huddled together on the sides of the road, while those who had a destination in mind walked quickly. He could still feel the pain in his wrist, although it was much duller than it had been last night. Maybe it was just a sprain?

The air was also different, the mixture of smells having changed. Steel and smoke overwhelmed the sense, along with the everpresent scent of dust stirred up from underfoot. Where once there had been the smell of produce and the rot of murdered animals, now these smells were primarily the sweat of people on the street mixed with the occasional stench of perfume.

“If this is one of the great cities of the Earth Kingdom, I’d hate to see a poor one.” Azula remarked, her eyes taking in the view with disdain.

“There’s usually more people. Although it also usually smells worse, so…” Aang trailed off.

“People were scared off by the threat of war.” Azula sniffed. “Cowards. They couldn’t hack it when times got tough, so they left.”

“You left too.” Aang pointed out.

“But not to anywhere safer.” Azula rebutted. It was something Aang highly doubted, but he didn’t challenge it. Instead, he focused on continuing down the street, towards where the authorities posted wanted posters.

“Where are we going?” Azula hissed behind him, clearly uncomfortable with being forced to follow behind him again.

Aang smiled. “We’re going to see how much of an impact we made last night.”

The square they strode into was practically abandoned by the time they got there, although a few vendors hawked crystals or foodstuffs from their booths. A bulletin board, worn with age but still standing, was placed in the middle of the square. An older man sat next to it, his eyes closed and a hat pulled over his head. A wooden hammer was on the ground next to him, right underneath his open hand.

Azula seemed to pick up on what they were looking for immediately and walked right up to the bulletin board. Aang walked up behind her, observing the posters. A few he recognized-- a decree banning the Underground Earth Rumble, posters advertising various services, and the wanted posters splattered with ink.

Two were particularly fresh. The first read ‘UNKNOWN FIREBENDER,’ without a sketch provided to recognize Azula with. Aang breathed an inward sigh of relief. The second read ‘UNKNOWN EARTHBENDER,’ which Aang frowned at. He’d been flying with his airglider before he slammed into that rock, right? He felt like that was a pretty big indicator of being an airbender.

“Interesting.” Azula remarked. Aang glanced at her, but she didn’t elaborate on anything.

“What’s interesting?”

She smirked. “I won’t deny you the exercise. Let your brain work on it.”

Aang sighed loudly, but she didn’t relent. He checked the descriptions of the two new posters more closely.

_ Firebender woman. Presumed to be a spy. Notify authorities immediately if you see ANY instances of firebending. Monetary reward for any information. _

Nothing weird there. He checked the other one.

_ Earthbender man. Presumed to be a traitor. Alerted firebender woman to the authorities and escaped custody. _

Aang blinked. Was Bumi free? “Shouldn’t there be a picture for that one?”

Azula nodded, and began walking away from the bulletin board. Aang kept looking at the posters, trying to see if there was anything else he was missing. A flurry of Earth army recruitment posters had been nailed up haphazardly, featuring images of burly men in uniform flexing their muscles while pointing at the viewer. A couple of screeds had been pinned up as well, decrying the Fire Nation, faithless youngsters weakening the nation, and so on.

Beyond that, nothing else out of the ordinary. Aang turned around to look for Azula, seeing her examining her nails in the upper corner of the square. He went to join her.

“Notice anything else unusual on the bulletin board?” Azula asked, her voice low and quiet.

Aang shook his head. “I’m glad they didn’t have portraits of us though.”

“Of course they didn’t. Tell me, Aang, what’s the first rule of espionage when you have a spy on the loose?” Azula asked, calm and casual.

Aang didn’t have the slightest idea. The Air temples had never really needed to look out for spies before the invasion, and after… Well, after the victory had been so total most people hadn’t even tried to rebel.

“You try to make sure they don’t have anywhere to hide?” Aang asked, confused.

Azula shook her head. “You do your best to project an image of strength. Putting up posters asking people to report a spy when you don’t even know what they look like? That’s an enormous admission of weakness.”

“I don’t think asking for help from people makes you weak.” Aang said, still confused.

“If you tell people there’s a random spy on the loose in the city, you cause a panic.” Azula said, her voice thick with irritation. “Which is why only an idiot would do it a few days into the war. Which is  _ why  _ I suspect that the Dai Li weren’t the people who put the posters up.”

Aang still felt very confused. “But if the Dai Li didn’t put the posters up, then who did?”

Azula smiled at that, a calculated one that fit her much better than the wild grin she’d flashed towards the woman in the cabbage man’s house. “Well, it must have been someone higher up who had the authority. Meaning there’s a power struggle in the city, between the local governorate and the higher authority of the Earth King and his agents.”

“Oh, Bumi!” Aang suddenly realized.

“What about him?” Azula asked.

“The local king is probably mad his son got kidnapped!” Aang said excitedly as he pieced it together. “Or maybe he thinks you kidnapped him?”

“... You’re saying that Bumi is a prince.” Azula stated flatly, her tone clearly disappointed with the turn of events.

“Yep! Bumi didn’t want to tell you in case… Well, in case you were what it says on the poster.” Aang explained, deciding not to explain the actual reason where Bumi thought it would be very funny to surprise her with the information.

“You realize that this changes literally everything about our planning.” Azula said, a hint of cold anger creeping into her voice. “And gives us a much larger amount of potential allies.”

Aang was very glad Bumi himself wasn’t here to be a target for Azula. He was pretty sure fire would be flying at this point if he was. “.... Sorry?”

There was another crack there, where Azula had an odd look of betrayal on her face before it was smoothed over by anger. She huffed. “Don’t be. It did make sense, given the circumstances. Just make sure to bring up the pertinent information more quickly, the next time we’re fleeing for our lives.”

“Yes ma’am.” Aang said cheekily.

“Given his status, most likely they’re not going to keep him in a normal prison. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d confined him to his room in the palace, or whatever passes for one around here.” Azula said, her face twisted in concentration. “Did he ever show you any secret ways to get into the palace?”

Aang hummed, trying to remember, before the answer came to him. “Oh! There’s the Cave of Two Lovers!”

He could see Azula frown at the name. “There should be a way to get from here directly to the palace. I bet it’ll be quick!”

“Assuming the Dai Li aren’t swarming through it like ants.” Azula pointed out, still frowning.

“But they’re still arguing, right? So I bet they don’t know about it.” Aang replied, grinning. “Plus, it does this super cool thing if you go in there and don’t have any lights with you!”

“Fine. We’ll take the cave to get there.” Azula said, in a tone that was almost a pout. “How do we get there?”

The way to the secret entrance was just as sparse of people as their way to the square had been. Dusty streets filled with the common people who didn’t have a home to hide in before the war came, stuck in tents and camps if they were lucky and in the open air if they weren’t. Each person kept to themselves or their own group, turning their eyes away from strangers. Aang found it sad that they had lost so much of the trust that allowed someone to create a community.

It was down around here somewhere, right? Aang could still remember the shape of the hexagonal hole in the ground, connecting to a part of the sewer system before veering off in the direction of the tunnels. But where  _ was  _ it?

In the alleyway, right. Aang took a quick right past some beggars, finding the hexagon that had been carved into the street.

“So, how do we get in?” Azula asked, tracing the hexagon with her foot.

“We earthbend!” Aang said, remembering how Bumi had managed to pop the entrance open.

Silence for a moment. “You realize that isn’t something  _ either  _ of us can do, right?”

Right. This entire endeavor had just become significantly more difficult. “Maybe we can like… convince it to open up?”

“You want to talk to the  _ ground.  _ In order to sweet talk it into opening up.” Azula didn’t even need to add any particular inflection to show how stupid the idea was.

Aang blushed. “Well, what else could we try to do?”

She looked at the hexagon, then knelt down and tapped on it with her knuckles. Then she knocked on the ground outside of the symbol, comparing the sensation.

“It’s thinner where the tunnel is. Do you think we could get a hammer?” Azula asked.

“Well, we got the money for it.” Aang said. “At least it’ll be useful for robbing those people.”

“You probably don’t want to say that out loud.” Azula pointed out, casting a wary glance down the street. “Even in a place like this, there still might be people willing to look for the police.”

They walked outside of the alley, looking for any shops that might have a hammer available for purchase. Aang tried walking up and asking someone where they could find one, but each time he did the person would inevitably turn away and he would be back at square one.

Each anvil symbol they found was accompanied by a boarded up shop and a sign reading ‘closed.’ It was by the time they got to the fifth that Azula seemed fed up.

“Would it be so bad if we just broke in?” She asked in a purr, her hand tracing over the doorknob. “It’s not like they’d miss a hammer.”

Human lives definitely took precedence over property. Aang looked up at the window. “Do you think there’s anyone home?”

“Might be. If there are people at home, the lights are off, but given the time of day that doesn’t really indicate anything.” Azula told him. “And besides, if there are people it’s not like we can’t take care of them.”

“Take care of them as in like, pay for their stuff?” Aang asked, trying to bring in an argument for not holding the whatever poor family lived there at swordpoint.

“Sure.” Azula replied, although the dryness in her tone implied a much more violent solution rattling around in her head. “Keep a lookout while I get this door open, would you?”

Aang turned to look out at the street. He could hear somebody whistling, faintly, a long and clear note. The street itself was starting to clear out, more and more people finding somewhere else to be. That was odd.

A beggar who was missing a leg frantically tried to get further away, his crutch seeming to fail him as he moved. It created something of a sad scene, the man collapsing as he continued to try and move forward. Aang was reminded of a bird missing a wing, desperately trying to take flight.

“Do you need help?” Aang strode forward to him, trying not to appear threatening. Not that he was particularly good at looking threatening on a good day, but it was still best to try.

The man kept scrambling. If anything, he looked even more terrified by Aang’s offer of help, his eyes splaying wide. His crutch was abandoned, the man attempting to crawl as fast as he could away.

“He won’t take your help.” Azula called out to him. “Stop wasting our time and get over here.”

The whistling was getting louder. Aang tried to find who was maintaining such a long breath of air for so long, but he couldn’t see anybody. It was a piercing, oddly haunting note. Where was it coming from?

Before he could figure it out further a sharp hand gripped him and pulled him out of the street. The whistling had become a scream, shrieking through the air as Azula pulled him behind the door and practically threw him under a table.

“What the hell are you--”

That was all Aang could start to say before the world suddenly exploded. A thundering roar tore through the walls of the building, smoke and flame and fire ripping through. Aang could feel a wave of pressure pass through the building as Azula kept a wall around them from the flame, her blue tinged fire redirecting the sudden explosion around them.

Metal tore through wood, puncturing any available surface and leaving deep gouges wherever it went. The table they were under was suddenly pummeled with debris, plaster and floorboards and who knew what else thudding down.

Smoke rolled in through the remains of the wall that had previously been there, as dust plumed upwards and curled in the sky. The whistling noise was now replaced by a ringing, a piercing drone in his ears that wouldn’t go away now matter how much he tried to bend the air around him.

Fires were scattered around the street, which was now a wreck. Stones were overturned, and a massive crater decorated with curled black pieces of metal was left where the thing had dropped.

The man. The man! Aang scrambled out to see if he was okay, past Azula who looked like she’d just been slapped and towards the street. He didn’t even have to go through the door-- nothing remained of the wall which had seemed like such an insurmountable barrier only a few seconds ago.

Every building that he had looked at within the last few seconds was now a ruin. Wherever the man might have ended up, it wouldn’t have been far enough to survive. But stranger things had happened, surely? Right?

Aang tried to reassure himself about it, and ignore the worse thoughts running through the back of his head. Another person he couldn’t save, another innocent person lost to war, another failure on his part.

He nearly succeeded at convincing himself the lame man could have survived when he saw the crutch, blackened with ash and split down the middle, lodged into a shattered window. A single finger, curved and dark red with blood, clung to the warped wood which somebody had once used to survive.

He turned back towards Azula, who had extricated herself from the building and held a thick hammer in her hands. Her hair was a mess, her face covered in dust, but somehow she managed to look perfectly calm in the middle of this.

“They’re doing a bombing run on the city before they invade it with ground troops.” She explained nonchalantly. “Trying to soften the defenses beforehand.”

Aang felt like he was going to be sick. “How can people do this?”

“They pull a lever in the side of their plane cockpit while flying over the city.” Azula informed him. “It’s not exactly difficult to do. Even a child could do it.”

Aang gestured angrily at the devastation. “How can people do  _ this!  _ How can you… how can you be so calm about this?”

She scowled in response. “I’m sorry, what do you want me to be doing? Do you want me to melt down and forget the plan we had? Should we waste time weeping over a man you knew for a whole  _ two seconds  _ before he died, and wait for another bombing run to come around and finish the job with us?”

She tossed the hammer at him, which landed in his sprained hand. Aang winced at the sudden weight and pain.

“I just saved your life, by the way.  _ You’re welcome.” _ It came out like acid.

Aang sat down in the dust and the ashes. “... Thank you. For that.”

“Excellent. So, if we could get a move on, I think that would be for the best.” Azula was already walking away, from the smoke and the devastation that had just flooded everything.

Aang hefed the hammer over his shoulder, trying to lessen the pressure on his wrist. It was an odd weight, and the way everything had just happened he felt extremely off balance. The nomad camp… were they safe? Had they been caught up in an explosion?

Every time they found a place to stay, it felt like the world conspired to snatch it away from them. And now they would have to leave again, and hope they could find another place that would be a little bit safer.

As they left the explosion site, it became easier for Aang to focus on the present moment. Screaming and yelling were the predominant noise, people who’d been caught by shrapnel and fire begging for healing.

Azula cut through the crowds like a knife, her steps never wavering. For a split second, Aang was jealous. Then he remembered what she’d been like in the tent, and he realized it was more likely she was pushing through due to prior experience than because of natural unflappability. What had her father tried to put her through, if a situation like this didn’t even register?

They returned to the hexagon, and Aang felt much less triumphant about this turn of events than he would have a minute ago. Azula snatched the hammer from him, and in one precise stroke swung the dense metal into the heart of the shape.

He jumped at the noise from the sudden crack into the earth. The road crumbled apart, revealing a ladder crawling down into the sewers.

“Damn. It would appear we have to go through the Omashu sewers after all.” Azula grumbled. “And I’d just gotten a new set of clothes, too.”

“It should be over pretty quickly.” Aang said, remembering how fast they’d passed through when he and Bumi took the secret route.

Azula grimaced, but didn’t add any more complaints before she dropped down into the hole. Aang followed after her, escaping from the sunlit streets of Omashu and dropping down onto the dimly lit tunnels of the sewers. Green crystals, marking out the path to follow, were shining on the ceiling.

“I assume we follow the lights, right?” Azula asked him, looking upwards at the lights.

Aang nodded, and their steps echoed across the filthy water as they went along the pre planned route. Everything felt shaky for Aang, like he was a leaf trembling in the wind.

“Hey, Azula?” He asked suddenly, not even entirely sure what he would ask for beyond something to fill the silence with.

“What.” She said it as a statement, not a question. There was an underlying annoyance to her voice.

“When you killed someone, was it through something like… like that?” Aang asked. “With the explosions and shrapnel?”

“No.” Azula replied easily. “That would have been far too messy for what I was trying to do.”

“What were you trying to do?”

A longer, thicker silence loomed with the question posed. Rumbling shook through the tunnels, sending waves along the foul river of water they were wading in the shallows of. More bombs, Aang guessed, tearing through more people and more homes like paper.

“I suppose I was trying to impress my father.” Azula settled on as an answer to the question. It firmly cemented the image of just what kind of man Azula’s father was in Aang’s head. “I really don’t think this line of questioning is relevant right now. Unless you want to try and turn me in to the authorities.”

“No, I don’t want to do that.” Aang said. “I guess I just want to try and understand you better?”

“All you need to understand is that when I have a goal, I see it through. Everything else is trivia.” Azula told him, a snarl in her voice. “I don’t fail, I don’t screw up, I’m not Zu--”

She cut herself off on the last part. “I’m not my brother.”

“Everybody fails sometimes.” Aang pointed out. “That’s when your friends and family help you get back together.”

Azula snickered. “Rather ironic, given neither of us actually has either one.”

“I think of you as a friend.” Aang said softly. “A really weird, kind of scary but also kind of cool friend.”

“Last I checked, friends don’t think of each other as weird.” Azula griped, turning in the corridor to continue following the chain of lights to their destination. The new hallway was much smaller, and in the distance Aang could see the lights bend over down onto the wall and disappear behind a door.

“Of course friends think of each other as weird! Bumi’s one of my best friends and he’s  _ super  _ weird.” Aang laughed, despite the seriousness of the situation and the continued rumbling of the tunnels. “It’s just about accepting each other’s weirdness, not trying to convince yourself that you and your friends are  _ normal _ and everybody else is  _ weird.” _

Azula swung open the door, revealing a much cleaner set of stairs alongside a railing with a tram set in it. She gave a tsking noise at the sight.

“A shame we’re not earthbenders. It would make this much easier.”

Aang nodded in agreement. It looked like it would be a long, long walk before they got to the top of the city. The crystal lights ended here as well, prompting Azula to light a flame in order to see properly.

“Huh.” Aang noted as he saw her flame come out red instead of blue. “I thought your flame was blue?”

For the first time since he’d met her, Azula actually flinched. “So did I.”

“Is there a trick to that, or…?” Aang trailed off to let her answer.

“No. It’s just supposed to be blue.” Azula replied. “I suppose going through so many failures dimmed the color.”

“It was red when you tried to run up the walls of Omashu too.” Aang recalled the moment where Azula had tried to throw her life away. “Why do you think it changed back to blue?”

“No idea. Because I was fighting for my life, possibly?” Azula thought out loud. “Possibly because I had a clear goal I needed to accomplish quickly. Or I just regained stamina. Lots of potential explanations, not nearly enough evidence for any of them.”

“Well, the mons said that bending was connected to spiritual harmony.” Aang remembered from the days before the Fire Nation came to invade. “The more in touch with yourself you are, the easier it is to bend. Maybe it’s because you’re changing? Less in touch with yourself?”

“I know exactly who I am.” Azula responded harshly. “Stop throwing philosophy at me. I’ll figure it out on my own.”

“If you say so.” Aang mumbled. They continued to climb the stairs, making their way through the dark tunnel.

If Aang were to guess, this was the longest flight of stairs in the entire Earth Kingdom. Quite possibly in the world. Still, the rumbling continued from above, shaking dust and pebbles from the ceiling.

“If a bomb lands on top of us, do you think it could crash through?” Aang asked as the idea dawned on him of how horrible that could be.

“I doubt it.” Azula said in response. “They’re designed to explode on impact, so anything that managed to get down to here would most likely be a dud.”

Aang shivered, in a way that had nothing to do with the cold air flowing through the tunnel. At least they would be safe, even if everybody on the city streets were dying.

“How come they haven’t done anything to fight back?” Aang asked.

Azula shrugged ahead of him. “The Earth Kingdom doesn’t have an air fleet, and if the local governor here is calling himself a king I imagine there are arguments between him and the proper Earth King. If that were the case, it would be in Kuei’s interest to let the city burn before sending any in any real defenses.”

“But he sent in the secret police.” Aang said, still confused. “Aren’t these people still his citizens?”

“For a ruler, lives can be cheap. Problematic, rebellious lives are even cheaper. My guess is the Earth army is probably primarily focusing on retaking the colonies at this point than defending territories like this.” She rattled it off easily, like the calculations to leave hundreds of thousands of people to die were rational. “And besides that, they evacuated the city of most of the inhabitants. There’s a reason why the streets are empty. Maybe they have bomb shelters elsewhere in the city?”

“I feel like Bumi would have mentioned it.” Aang said.

Another shrug. “Assuming he was told, maybe. But there’s no real reason to assume he  _ was  _ told. So most likely he was as in the dark about this as you are.”

“Nobility kind of sucks, huh? I’m glad we didn’t have that with the Air temples.” Aang decided. “If people could just toss away life like this.”

There was no response to that. He couldn’t tell whether or not Azula was mad at him or just didn’t want to keep talking. He was  _ pretty  _ sure Azula must have been a noble, given the way she talked and her casual familiarity with weapons of war. Probably not like a princess or anything, but definitely in the upper crust of Fire Nation politics. If all of the people setting examples were people who treated life as expendable, a whole lot of her previous behavior made sense.

He knew she didn’t like people pitying her, but he did find the whole situation sad. Would Bumi turn out like her too, once the royal family was done with him? It was hard to imagine Bumi as someone falling into the whims of court life, but Azula didn’t seem like the kind of person who took orders either.

They finally reached the top of the staircase, a dull oak door serving as the exit. Azula cracked it open, and a rush of fresh air passed through the crack. It smelled like sweetened foods, meat, and fresh soup. Aang’s stomach growled in response.

The door led out into a small hallway, covered in various pieces of tapestry. It was quiet, abandoned.

“It seems that everybody is busy with the war effort.” Azula said. “Hopefully they won’t notice two people out of place for right now. How do we get to the mad prince’s chambers?”

Aang led the way through the familiar halls. Ducking between the dark green pillars of the palace, making his way up the stairs until they’d reached a hallway where the windows were opening out onto the entirety of the city below. He made the mistake of peeking out at the view.

Thick plumes of black smoke curled upward throughout the city, and the green roof tiles that had given the city the appearance of a vast forest of humanity from this angle had nearly all been shattered. Now there was only dust and smoke, the red outlines of fires glowing dully in the distance. He could see streets crowded with people, some still moving while others stayed still.

It wasn’t clear whether or not those people were alive or dead. He hoped for the alive option.

In the distance, up in the sky, he could see the thin bodies of planes weaving through the air. Their frames were black, and a sputtering of thick smog followed behind them wherever they went. Every few seconds, a thin black canister would drop from the plane and fall towards the ground, chased by a volley of rocks from Omashu’s earthbenders.

A few would get caught up in the barrage, exploding before they hit the ground. But most continued their descent towards the ground, striking lethally true and sending up another plume of fire and smoke to join the dozens already tearing through the city.

It took Azula dragging him away from the window for him to regain his senses. He could feel something wet on his cheeks, and when he touched his eyes he realized he’d been crying. She looked at him, and he expected her to yell, or reprimand, or say some bitter and venomous thing to get him back on track.

Instead, she said with a surprising touch of softness. “It’s easier if you don’t think about it.”

“How can I not?” He asked, his throat choked with something. She didn’t reply to that question, instead turning around to keep walking towards Bumi’s chambers.

He took the lead again, pointing her in the right direction. The door to Bumi’s room was guarded by two burly men, their heads parodies of disgruntled anger.

“Well, this could be fun.” Azula commented, letting a new ball of red fire curl up from her hand. “It’s probably better practice than the Dai Li, at least.”

“Right, because a firebender in the royal palace won’t call a bunch of attention here and get us killed.” Aang said, rolling his eyes. “Why don’t we just sneak past them?”

“They seem rather firmly attached to their station.” Azula kept the fire burning in her palm. “I thought you liked having fun?”

“I’ve got my tricks. Besides, this’ll be way more fun.” Aang grinned as he sent his voice down the hall to land in the guards ear.

“Hey, stupid guard guy! I’m right over here!” Aang shouted. The guard turned the exact opposite direction from where they actually were, his eyes bugging out in an expression of shock and anger.

“Did you hear that?” The burly man asked his similarly shaped companion. Who shook his head.

“That’s cause he’s a stupid idiot who doesn’t think you’re good enough at your job to actually hear somebody yelling down the hall!” Aang shouted again, carefully manipulating the air his voice travelled on to make sure only the one guard heard.

Azula looked at him quizzically, like she couldn’t understand what he was doing. Which she probably couldn’t, now that he thought about it. She wouldn’t be able to hear his voice either, so it probably looked like he was yelling without saying anything.

“You’re a giant stupid idiot who doesn’t know how to tell the difference between a voice in his head and an intruder!” He tacked on the insult.

The target growled and stormed off, leaving his companion alone.

“... Interesting. You projected your voice, I’m guessing?” Azula asked, watching the man leave.

“Yep! Airbender trick. I did it while we were talking last night, too.” Aang said, beaming proudly.

“Did you do it before that at all?” Azula asked, her voice suddenly very dangerous.

Aang frowned. “Not that I can think of. I think last night was the first time.”

“Think, or know?” She pressed on, her face suddenly getting closer to his. “Tell me.” 

“I didn’t do anything with voices to you before last night.” Aang swore solemnly. “Why? Have you been hearing things?”

“Nothing for you to worry about if you’re not the cause of it.” Azula dismissed him easily. “Let’s take care of this remaining idiot and jailbreak the mad princeling, shall we?”

Before Aang could say anything more, she had dashed down the hall and jumped onto the other guard, digging her nails into a portion of his neck. The guard dropped like a stone, his eyes and muscles bulging in surprise. Aang grimaced at the sight of it as he seemed to flop around like a fish on dry land.

Wait, had she just? Aang ran up to check on the man and make sure none of his arteries had been slashed while Azula inspected her fingernails with an annoyed expression on her face. He touched the man's neck-- no blood. Aang let out a sigh of relief.

“Worried I was going to kill him?” Azula asked petulantly.

“Yes, actually.” Aang said as he looked at the man writhe around. “What did you actually do to him?”

“I blocked one of the chi points in his neck. He’ll be paralyzed from the neck down for the next twenty minutes or so.” She explained, kicking the door open.

Two Dai Li agents were attached to the wall of Bumi’s room, covered in crystal. A third was stuck to the ceiling. Bumi himself was busy writing something at his desk, a pair of handcuffs dangling from his wrist.

“So, you heard about the coup?” He asked without a hint of concern in his voice.

“Coup is a strong word for it.” Azula snorted. “More like a secession.”

Bumi shrugged, leaving Aang entirely in the dark as to what was even going on. “Wait, Azula, how do you know what’s going on? You were stuck with me the entire time and we definitely didn’t hear anything about a coup.”

“Dai Li agents stuck to the walls, a governor calling himself a king, and the outbreak of a war? I thought it was fairly obvious, once I had all the pieces put together.” Azula spelled it out for him. “It was you who actually collapsed the mail tram we were on last night, wasn’t it?”

“Yep!” Bumi snickered. “Got these two jerks off your trail though, didn’t I? They were a pain to keep trapped.”

He jerked a thumb towards the wall. Aang’s eyes widened.

“That’s why you disappeared! They didn’t arrest you, you were the one who captured the other guy!”

Bumi laughed, a cacophonous cackle that reverberated throughout the room. “You’ve got that right! We’ve been  _ pretty  _ busy today.”

Azula frowned. “You realize that we put all of this effort in to try and free you from prison, right? I’m feeling a little insulted.”

Bumi shrugged his shoulders, and stood up from his chair. “It’s not like I could just go outside and run around with all those bombs dropping. You get through that okay?”

“We did.” Azula said sourly. “No thanks to you.”

“Bumi, it’s awful out there! People are dying in the streets, the bombs just  _ kill  _ everybody!” Aang cried out. “Do you know if the Air camp is okay?”

“No idea!” Bumi said excitedly. “But those old farts are a bunch of survivors, so my suspicion is yes. Assuming they didn’t just pack up camp and leave.”

“But some of those people were sick, and--”

“That’s not the important question right now.” Bumi cut Aang off. “The important question is the two of you! And our one Dai Li friend who has stubbornly evaded capture.”

“Of course, you missed one.” Azula sneered. “That explains the poster you had put up. Although I resent the implication I’m a spy.”

“Blue fire is pretty rare. If anything, saying you were a spy was a downgrade.” Bumi arched up an eyebrow, fixing Azula with a steely look. She didn’t budge an inch. With a few seconds wait, Bumi started laughing again.

“I like this one! You should keep her around, you know?” Bumi whispered conspiratorially to Aang.

“I kind of got the feeling that she wouldn’t want to stay around me for long.” Aang admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Azula rolled her eyes at that. “You’re not the  _ worst  _ company I’ve had. Very chatty, though.”

“He is, isn’t he? Still manages to worm into your heart, though.” Bumi agreed, still smiling that crazy grin. “So, are you leaving or staying?”

“If you’re defecting to the Fire Nation, I’m afraid I’ll be leaving.” Azula said simply. “As nice it would be to see some civilization brought around here, I have too many enemies from there to stick around.

“Defecting? Why would we be defecting?” Bumi asked. “You think we’d just trade one rotten, far away king for another?”

“If you’re stupid enough to try and fight the Fire Nation without the Earth King’s support, I’ll definitely be leaving.” Azula said sharply. “And so should you, Aang. Don’t let the madman drag you down with him.”

Aang looked from Azula to Bumi, and then back and forth again. “I’m really confused here.”

“I’ll elucidate it for you, then. Omashu is declaring independence while the war breaks out, and either thinks they can negotiate a peace treaty with the Fire Nation or they can actually fight back the Fire Nation. Both ideas are incredibly stupid.” Azula explained to him.

“Is that true?” He asked Bumi, who nodded in response. “Bumi, you can’t just stop fighting against them! They can’t just do what they did and get away with it!”

“So you’re not staying, then.” Bumi said, his smile fading in intensity. “Are you sure?”

Aang wasn’t. “I’m not sure of anything other than bombing people is evil. I don’t think negotiating with the army willing to massacre civilians to  _ soften up  _ a city before invading would get you anything good.”

“I agree with him, but more on the tactical reasons than the moral ones.” Azula spoke up. “They don’t care if you’re Omashu or Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom is Earth Kingdom and they want the location to pierce further inland.”

“And how would you know that, hmmm?” Bumi said with a smug tone. “You ought to be a bit more discrete, you know?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that does is you know what I’m saying is true.” Azula shot back. “You’re the stepping stone to Gao Ling.”

Bumi’s eyebrows narrowed. “Well, that is a complication… Too bad I’m not in charge of war policy.”

“But you still support the secession.”

“Of course!” Bumi shouted. “The Earth King is a little coward hiding behind the walls and risking everybody else’s lives for what? A couple thousand  _ li  _ of land? It’s not our fight, but he’s sucking the province dry to fund it!”

He waved his hand. “Regardless, there are other issues. Including the fact that Dai Li agent most likely escaped and is en route to bring another army here. They won’t spare troops to defend us, but we try to leave and see how quickly they come crashing down with an army.”

“You want us to hunt down this agent for you?” Azula asked.

“You know I’m not going to help you further this war, Bumi. I thought we were friends.” Aang said sadly.

“I do, and we are, Aang. This is a way to help end the fighting! No more fighting in Omashu, at least.” Bumi added the last point awkwardly. “But isn’t a little less fighting better than the same amount of fighting?”

“We don’t exactly owe you any favors. And like I said, you’ll be conquered by the Fire Nation either way.” Azula said drily. “You can hire an actual assassin to do your work.”

“You don’t owe me any favors. But I have a valuable tidbit of information I’m sure you don’t want getting out, right?” Bumi said, still grinning.

Azula’s eyes narrowed. “It won’t really do you much good on the world stage. It’s nothing that will stop the war.”

“True. But it’ll make life much more difficult for you personally.” Bumi said.

“No.” Aang said suddenly.

“That’s not your call to make, Aang.” Azula said.

Aang shook his head. “If you try, then I’ll stop you. Because this? All of this, everything happening here? It’s wrong, Bumi.”

“... What else can I do?” Bumi said in response, his voice suddenly much wearier than a 14 year old boy’s should have been. “Everything is changing so fast, we have to make our move now before we get lost to one or the other. If we want to have a chance of surviving without the Earth King breathing down our necks for the next hundred years, this is the only shot we’ve got.”

“Can’t you try to think outside the box?” Aang said hesitantly. “Come on, Bumi. Work with us here.”

“This was my thinking outside of the box!” Bumi said, stress starting to seep into his face. “Aang, you know I love you, but you don’t have to deal with the responsibility of it. With the duty of protecting 8 million people and deciding which ones you need to keep alive and which ones to let fend for themselves.”

Azula sniffed. “No wonder the Earth Kingdom is losing, if this is the best they have on offer.”

“Don’t even get me started on  _ you! _ Do you know how many questions you raise?” Bumi turned towards Azula away from Aang. “It’s hard enough to commit treason when you know everything that’s going on, you know.”

Azula laughed at that. “I suppose I do, don’t I?”

“Wait, who is she actually?” Aang asked. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious she was a Fire Nation noble, but is she important?”

“Not really.” Azula said without changing tone at all. “Definitely not now. I’ve been banished, after all.”

“Even more questions, then.” Bumi said in response, without giving a clear answer to Aang’s question. “She was definitely a noblewoman though. I think that’s all you need to know for now. She can tell her own story.”

“Congratulations on saving your own tongue.” Azula said, looking down at her fingernails. “And from sparing me the need to get my hands even dirtier than they are already.”

“I am never making friends with nobility again.” Aang grumbled. “Way more trouble than it’s worth.”

“I assure you, it’s easier when it’s not wartime.” Azula said, almost like she was trying to comfort him. “So, prince of Omashu, I don’t suppose you’d have an easy way to get out of the city?”

“Aang already knows the route to get out.” Bumi said. “You’re sure you don’t want to try and…?”

“No.” Aang said firmly.

“Maybe.” Azula said noncommittally. “If I’m in the mood. Any incentives you’re willing to offer?”

“If we’re all alive by the end of this, maybe. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to find punishments than rewards, these days. And I suspect I can’t give you what you would actually want.” Bumi sighed.

“No. No, you really can’t. We should get going, then.” Azula turned toward the door.

“We?” Aang asked. “I thought you wanted to be done with me.”

Azula looked like she’d been caught in the middle of stealing a cookie from the jar. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

“Azula, I’m not sure I can keep this up if I have to keep worrying about you… you killing people. I don’t know if I can keep any of this up.” Aang admitted, exhausted. “I’m tired, I’m sore everywhere, I don’t know where we’re going to go.”

“... I’m sorry?” It came out confusedly, like she wasn’t entirely sure of what she was saying. “You realize that all of those apply to me as well, right? I get that I am very good at managing myself, but do you honestly think I know where I’m going?”

“I don’t know. I guess?” Aang said, his voice thick with exhaustion.

“On the bright side, there’s an easy solution to that.” Bumi said suddenly. “Spend the night here before leaving. It’s not like the city will be less bombed if you leave late or early.”

Aang yawned. “Is that something you can do?”

“Who cares? Bed’s right there and they’re my servants. If they have a problem with it, they can take it up with my dad.” Bumi was nonchalant, sitting back down on his chair to go back to writing. “And… it would be nice to have you stay for a little bit longer. I don’t exactly want to be alone here.”

Aang lowered himself down on the bed, his head smacking down into the pillows. It felt so much more comfortable than the sleeping roll in his tent, or the chair he’d slept in that morning. “Thanks, Bumi.”

He mumbled it out as the last of the adrenaline left his body, and the darkness took over his vision. For the first time in a long time, Aang felt safe while he was sleeping.


End file.
